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THE  GEORGIC 

A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  VERGILIAN 
TYPE  OP  DIDACTIC  POETRY 


BY 


MARIE  LORETTO  LILLY 


^  w>i&ittmi(m 


SUBMITTEO   TO    THE  BOABD    OF    UNIVEHSITY  STUDIES  OF  THE  JOHNS   HOPKINS   UNIVEBSITY 

IN  CONFOBMITY  WITH  THE  EEQUIEEMENTS  FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

19  16 


BALTIMORE 

J.    H.    FURST   COMPANY 

1917 


THE   GEORGIC 

A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  VERGILIAN 
TYPE  OP  DIDACTIC  POETRY 


BY 


MARIE  LORETTO  LILLY 


2i  Dt0£fercacton 


SUBMITTED   TO    THE  BOARD   OP    UNIVERSITY  STUDIES  OF  THE  JOHKS   HOPKINS    UNIVERSITY 

IN  CONFORMITY  WITH  THE  RKQUIBEMKNTS  FOB  THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHII^OSOPHY 

1  w  1  e 


BALTIMORE 

J.    H.    FURST    COMPANY 

19  17 


This  monograph  comprises  chapters  one,  two,  and  three  of  a  study 
to  be  published  in  Hesperia,  Supplementary  Series,  No.  5.  Gottin- 
gen,  Vanderhoeck  and  Ruprecht:  Baltimore,  Tlie  Johns  Hopkins 
Press. 


IN    GEATEFUL    AIEMORY 


OF 


SISTER    MARY    MELETIA 


371464 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I  PAGK 

Introduction 1-8 

CHAPTER   IT 

The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type 9-18 

1.    Vergil's  Georgics,  their  relation  to  the  Works  and 

Days  of    Ilesiod 9 


9 


Subject  matter  of  the  Georgics 13 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral.  ...        19 

1.  Distinction  between  the  Georgic  and  the  Pastoral.  .        19 

2.  The  Pastoral,  a  literary  type  of  frequent  occur- 
rence, made  famous  by  great  poets ;  the  Georgic,  a 
literary  type  coincidentally  neglected 26 

3.  Variations  in  the  development  of  the  Georgic  com- 
pared with  variations  in  the  development  of  the 
Eclogue 37 

4.  Variations  of  the  Greorgic  classified 47 


THE  GEORGIC 


CHAPTER  I 


Introduction 

In  1697,  Addison  in  his  "  Essay  on  the  Georgics  "  ^  complains 
of  the  neglect  of  these  poems  and  of  their  confusion  with  the 
pastoral.  "  There  has  been  abundance  of  criticism  spent  on 
Virgil's  Pastorals  and  Aeneids,"  he  writes,  "  but  the  Georgics 
are  a  subject  which  none  of  the  critics  have  sufficiently  taken 
into  their  consideration,  most  of  them  passing  it  over  in  silence, 
or  casting  it  under  the  same  head  with  Pastoral — a  division  by 
no  means  proper,  unless  we  suppose  the  style  of  a  Husbandman 
ought  to  be  imitated  in  a  Georgia,  as  that  of  a  shepherd  is  in 
Pastoral.  But  though  the  scene  of  both  these  Poems  lies  in  the 
same  place;  the  speakers  in  them  are  of  a  quite  different  char- 
acter, since  the  precepts  of  husbandry  are  not  to  be  delivered 
with  the  simplicity  of  a  Plowman,  but  with  the  address  of  a 
Poet.  No  rules  therefore  that  relate  to  Pastoral,  can  any  way 
affect  the  Georgics,  since  they  fall  under  that  class  of  Poetry, 
which  consists  in  giving  plain  and  direct  instructions  to  the 
reader;  whether  they  be  Moral  duties,  as  those  of  Theognis 
and  Pythagoras;  or  Philosophical  Speculations,  as  those  of  Ara- 
tiis  and  Lucretius;  or  Rules  of  practice,  as  those  of  Hesiod  and 
Virgil." 

One  can  hardly  agree  with  Addison  that  the  critics  have  ne- 
glected Vergil's  Georgics;  and  there  is  evidence  that  from  their 
first  appearance  the  didactics  that  rival  the  De  Rerum  Natura 
were  not  denied  due  honor.  The  long  list  of  translations,  and 
the  various  editions  of  the  Georgics  annotated  in  many  lan- 

^  This  essay  was  contributed  anonymously  as  an  introduction  to  Dryden's 
translation  of  the  Georgics.  It  was  written  as  early  as  1693.  See  Kurd's 
note,  The  Works  of  Adddson,  ed.  Bohn,  London,  1862,  p.  154. 

1 


2  The  Georgic 

guages  bear  witness  to  the  devoted  labor  spent  on  Vergil's  agri- 
cultural treatises.  Various  recent  publications,^  moreover, 
testify  to  the  living  interest  in  the  poems  that  have  been  pro- 
nounced the  most  finished  product  of  antiquity.  But,  so  far 
as  I  am  able  to  discover,  of  the  georgic  as  a  type,  closely  related 
to  the  pastoral,  although  essentially  different  from  it,  nothing- 
definite  or  detailed  has  been  written  in  English  since  Addison's 
complaint  in  1697.  As  for  French  critics,  they  seem  also  to 
have  neglected  the  subject  of  the  georgic  as  a  type.  Collections 
of  Italian  georgics  have  been  edited  ^  and  there  is  some  Italian 
criticism  on  the  georgic  poetry  of  Italy,^  but  unfortunately 
neither  these  collections  of  "  Italian  Georgics,"  nor  the  critical 
essays  have  so  far  been  accessible  to  me:  of  the  latter  I  know 
only  what  is  conveyed  by  the  titles. 

One  cannot  say  that,  like  the  georgic,  the  pastoral  has  been 
neglected.  With  finer  understanding  of  the  subject  than  that 
which  is  manifest  in  the  age  of  Addison,  the  critics  have  con- 
tinued to  discuss  the  imitations  of  Vergil  and  of  Theocritus. 
Symonds,^  with  justice,  refers  to  "the  whole  hackneyed  ques- 
tion of  Bucolic  poetry."  Certainly  no  student  can  remain  igno- 
rant of  the  pastoral  as  a  type,  of  its  origin,  of  its  characteristics, 
of  its  developments  as  a  literary  genre,  of  the  recurring  periods 
of  favor  and  disfavor  through  which  it  has  passed.  But  if, 
incidentally,  the  critics  touch  upon  the  difference  in  type  be- 
tween the  Eclogues  and  the  Georgics  of  Vergil,  it  is  usually  to 

^  Meta  Glass,  The  Fusion  of  Stylistic  Elements  in  Vergil's  Georgics,  N, 
Y.,  Columbia  Univ.,  1913;  T.  F.  Royd,  The  Beasts,  Birds,  md  Bees  of  Ver- 
gil: a  naturalist's  handbook  to  the  Georgics,  with  a  preface  by  W.  Warde 
Fowler,  Oxford,  B.  H.  Blackwell,  1914;  T.  C.  Williams,  The  Georgics  and 
Eclogues  of  Vergil,  with  an  introd.  by  G.  H.  Palmer,  Harvard  Univ. 
Press,  1915;  Les  Georgiques,  Texte  Latin,  par  Paul  Lejay,  Paris,  1915. 

^  /  Poemi  Georgici,  Francesco  Bonsignori,  Lucca,  1785 ;  Giovanni  Silves- 
tri,  Milano,  1826. 

*  Felippo  Re,  Delia  poesia  georgica  degli  Italiani,  Bologna,  1809 ;  L.  Gi- 
rardelli,  Dei  poemi  georgici  nostrali,  Goriza,  1900;  D.  Merlini's  Saggio  di 
ricerche  sitlla  satira  contro  il  villano,  Torino,  Loscher,  1894,  probably 
treats  of  poems  that  fall  under  the  head  of  mock-georgics. 

^  J.  A.  Symonds,  Studies  of  the  Greek  Poets,  London,  1902,  Vol.  ii,  p.  245. 


Introduction  3 

notice  the  superiority  of  workmanship  in  the  latter,  or  to  con- 
trast the  general  character  of  tho  two  series  of  poems.  Sellar,^ 
for  example,  observes  that  Vergil  was  marked  among  his  con- 
temporaries as  the  poet  of  ligature  and  rural  life.  The  Eclogues^ 
he  observes,  are  of  a  light  type;  the  general  Roman  spirit  de- 
manded of  its  highest  literature  that  it  should  have  either  some 
direct  practical  use  or  contribute  in  some  way  to  the  sense  of 
national  greatness.  Glover  '^  discusses  the  difference  in  spirit 
between  the  Eclogues  and  the  Georgics:  "  the  great  note  "  of  the 
Eclogues^  youthful  happiness,  the  life  of  the  Shepherd,  an  easy 
life,  touched  sometimes  by  youthful  grief  that  is  never  incon- 
solable ;  in  the  Georgics,  "  the  grim  realization  that  life  involves 
a  great  deal  more  work  than  Menalcas  and  the  rest  had  thought, 
hard  work  all  the  year  round,  vigilance  never  to  be  remitted, 
and  labor  which  it  is  ruin  to  relax."  In  general,  however,  the 
commentators  seem  to  take  it  for  granted  that  the  reader  will 
perceive  of  necessity  the  essential  difference  between  the  two 
types.  Yet  one  continually  finds  that,  in  spite  of  Addison's 
emphatic  protest,  students  confuse  the  georgic  with  the  pastoral. 
Of  the  few  writings  that  I  have  been  able  to  discover  on  the 
imitations  of  the  Georgics  there  is  almost  nothing  that  is  of  any 
value  as  a  study  of  the  type.  In  Conington's  edition  of  Vergil,^ 
there  is  a  section  on  the  "  Later  Didactic  Poets  of  Rome,"  an 
essay  that  is  valuable  in  the  history  of  the  georgic,  and  that 
gives  a  general  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Vergilian  model 
was  imitated  from  the  earliest  period.  A  piece  of  work  en- 
titled Virgilio  nella  storia  delta  Poesia  Didascalica  Latina,  by  D. 
Renzi,^  promises  valuable  information ;  but  I  have  been  unable 
to  consult  it.     Dunlop  ^^  has  some  comments  on  a  few  of  the 

*  W.  Y.  Sellar,  The  Roman  Poets  of  the  Augustan  Age,  Virgil,  Oxford, 
1908,  pp.  174  ff. 

'  T.  R.  Glover,  Studies  in  Vergil,  London,  Methuen  and  Co.,  1904,  pp. 
30flf. 

^  J.  Conington,  The  Works  of  Vergil,  London,  1872,  Vol.  i,  p.  389. 

'Avella,  1907. 

"  J.  Dunlop,  History  of  Roman  Lit.  during  the  Augustan  Age.  London, 
1828.     Vol.  HI,  pp.  138  flf. 


4  The  Georgic 

imitations  of  the  Georgics,  but  his  remarks  are  even  more  gen- 
eral respecting  the  type  than  those  of  Conington.  For  example, 
he  observes  that  "  The  Busticus  of  Politian  '  in  Virgilii  Georgi- 
con  enarratione  pronunciata'  is  an  abridgement  of  the  subject 
of  that  poem  and  several  passages  are  nearly  copied  from  it." 
After  having  briefly  considered  several  other  imitations,  he 
comments  on  the  great  debt  of  Thomson  to  Vergil  and  points  out 
passages  in  the  Seasons,  imitated,  or  almost  translated,  from  the 
Georgics. 

Ginguene  ^^  has  a  valuable  chapter  on  the  Italian  didactics 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  sketches  briefly  the  contents  of 
most  of  the  Italian  georgics  of  the  period,  but  altho  he  com- 
ments generally  on  the  fact  that  these  poems  follow  Yergil  as 
a  model,  he  says  nothing  of  their  particular  adaptations  of  the 
features  peculiar  to  the  georgic  type.  Incidentally,  he  shows 
that  other  writers,  who  have  considered  imitations  of  the  Geor- 
gics, have  done  so  carelessly.  An  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Luigi 
Alamanni's  Coltivazione,  Ginguene  protests  against  the  French 
neglect  of  this  important  poem,  a  work  written  and  first  pub- 
lished in  France.  In  particular  he  reproaches  Jacques  DeliUe, 
Saint-Lambert,  and  a  certain  de  Eosset.  Delille  is  scored,  be- 
cause, in  the  introduction  to  his  translation  of  the  Georgics,  he 
announces  that  he  cannot  refrain  from  speaking  of  the  poems 
for  which  Vergil  has  furnished  the  idea  and  the  model,  after 
which  announcement,  he  considers  Vaniere's  Praedium  Rusti- 
cum,  Eapin's  Jardins,  Thomson's  Seasons,  and  Saint-Lambert's 
Saisons,  without  mentioning  Luigi  Alamanni.  Saint-Lambert 
is  reproached,  because,  in  his  discours  preliminaire,^^  he  writes 
of  the  Georgics  of  Vergil  and  of  les  Georgiques  plus  detailles  de 
Vaniere,  and  neglects  the  opportunity  of  speaking  of  the  georgics 
of  Alamanni.     De  Eosset  is  complained  against,  because,  in  an 

"P.  L.  Ginguene,  Hist.  Lit.  d'ltalie,   Paris,  1824,  2e  ed.  T.  9,  ch.  xxxv, 

pp.  Iff. 

"  Ginguene  assumes  that  the  reader  is  familiar  with  this  work :  he  does  not 
state  where  it  is  to  be  found.  See  J.  F.  Saint-Lambert,  Les  Saisons,  "  Dis- 
cours Pr6liminaire,"  Paris,  1795. 


Introduction  5 

introductory  discourse  on  georgic  poetry  prefixed  to  a  poem  on 
agriculture,^^  he  writes  at  length  on  Hesiod  and  at  still  greater 
length  on  Vergil,  after  which  he  passes  abruptly  to  Rapin  and 
Vaniere,  without  seeming  to  know  that  another  georgic  poet 
(Alamanni)  had  existed  in  the  meantime. 

Saint-Lambert's  discussion  ^'^  is  of  no  value  as  a  study  of  the 
georgic  type  as  a  whole,  but  it  is  important  in  the  history  of  the 
development  of  the  eighteenth  century  variation  of  the  type  due 
to  Thomson's  Seasons.  Delille's  introduction  ^^  is  of  interest, 
since  he  makes  a  defense  of  the  georgic.  He  also  considers 
Vaniere's  Praedium  Rusticmn  very  briefly  and  compares  it  with 
Vergil's  Georgics,  not,  however,  with  any  reference  to  Vaniere's 
use  of  the  distinctive  features  of  the  Vergilian  type.  This  is 
followed  by  some  general  criticism  of  Rapin's  Gardens,  and 
Thomson's  Seasons,  and  mention  is  made  of  the  existence  of  two 
other  poems  on  the  seasons  by  French  writers  who  are  not  named. 
Delille's  preface  to  L^ Homme  des  Champs  ^^  is  of  interest  with 
respect  to  the  broad  meaning  of  the  word  "  georgic  "  in  French 
poems  of  this  class,  but  the  French  critic  is  no  more  detailed  in 
his  discussion  of  this  type  than  he  is  in  the  introduction  to  his 
translation  of  the  Georgics.  Whether  Rosset's  discourse  is  of 
value  or  not,  I  am  unable  to  say,  for  his  work  is  "naccessible 
to  me. 

In  histories  of  Italian  literature,^'^  there  occur  brief  notices 
of  Italian  didactics,  and  of  Italian  georgics,  among  the  latter 

"  The  reader's  familiarity  with  de  Eosset,  as  with  Saint-Lambert,  is  as- 
sumed. For  a  notice  of  the  life  of  Pierre  Fulcrand  de  Eosset,  who  died  at 
Paris,  in  1788,  the  author  of  a  poem  on  agriculture  in  nine  books,  the  first 
six  of  which  appeared  at  Paris  in  1744,  the  complete  edition  at  Lausanne, 
in  1806,  cp.  Pierre  Larousse,  Diet.  Univ.  de  la  XIXe  Siecle,  T.  13,  p.  1302. 

"Op.  cit. 

"  J.  Delille,  (Euvres,  Les  Georgiques,  Vol.  i,  "  Discours  Pr61iminaire,"  ed. 
P.  F.  Tissot,  Paris,  1832-33. 

"J.  Delille,  L'Homme  des  Champs,  ou  Les  Georgiques  Francoises,  Paris, 
1805,  p.  18. 

"  See,  for  example,  G.  Tiraboschi,  8tor.  della  Lett.  Ital.  Mila/no,  1822-26. 
T.  v.,  p.  864,  T.  VI,  p.  1428,  T.  vn,  pp.  1780,  1786  ff.,  T.  xm,  pp.  2119, 
2136,  2137  ff.     8tor.  Lett,  d'ltal.,  Milano,  F.  Flamini,  "  II  Cinquecento,"  pp. 


6  The  Georgic 

being  considered  only  poems  that  treat  of  agricultural  subjects. 
Concerning  the  relation  of  these  poems  to  Vergil's  didactics,  we 
are  told  at  most,  however,  that  they  are  written  in  imitation  of 
the  Georgics. 

Flamini  cites  a  study  of  Valvasone's  Caccia  ^^  that  is  probably 
of  value ;  but  I  have  been  unable  to  see  it.  Cavicchi  ^®  shows 
definitely  the  relations  between  Vergil  and  Rucellai,  but  he  does 
not  consider  Rucellai's  use  of  the  chief  features  of  the  georgic 
type.  Altho  Ginguene  complains  of  the  French  neglect  of  Ala- 
manni,  more  appears  to  have  been  written  on  La  Coltivazione 
than  on  any  other  Italian  didactic.  In  a  valuable  Verona 
edition  of  Alamanni's  Coltivazione  and  Rucellai's  Api,  pub- 
lished 1745,  the  Vergilian  borrowings  and  imitations  are  cited 
in  the  annotations  of  Giuseppe  Bianchini  da  Prato  on  La  Colti- 
vazione and  of  Roberto  Tito  on  Le  Api.  Gaspary  mentions 
several  studies  of  La  Coltivazione  ^^  that  I  have  been  unable  to 
see.  Hauvette  ^^  considers  the  poem  in  detail,  commenting  on 
its  relation  to  Vergil's  Georgics,  but  beyond  remarking  that 
Alamanni  scorns  the  digressions  which  are  so  important  a  part 
of  Vergil's  poems,  he  does  not  discuss  the  conventions  of  the 
georgic. 

Most  historians  of  French  literature  are  silent  concerning 
French  georgics ;  histories  of  English  literature  have  almost 
nothing   to   say    of    English    georgics.      Prefaces    to    English 

110,  440-2,  538,  574;  T.  Concari,  "II  Settecento,"  272,  237,  277,  278;  G. 
Mazzoni,  "  L'Ottoeento,"  78,  774.  A.  Gaspary,  Stor.  della  Lett.  Ital.,  tr. 
dal  Tedesco  da  Nicolo  Zingarelli,  Torino,  1887,  V,  ii,  pt.  n,  pp.  142  flf.,  197, 
319. 

^'  L.  Pizzio,  La  poesia  didascalica  e  la  "  Caccia "  di  E.  da  Valvasone, 
Udine,  1892. 

"  F.  Cavicchi,  II  Liiro  IV  delle  Georgiche  di  Virgilio  e  "  Le  Api  "  di  G. 
Rucellai,  Teramo,  1900. 

^°  F.  Caccialanza,  Le  Georgiche  di  Virgilio  e  la  "  Coltivazione  "  di  Luigi 
Alamanni,,  Susa,  1892;  G.  Naro,  L' Alamanni  e  la  Coltivazione,  Siracusa, 
1897;  L.  Girardelli,  Dei  poemi  georgici  nostrali  ed  in  particolare  della 
Coltivazione  di  L.  Alamanni,  Gorizia,  1900,  cp.  above,  p.  2. 

^*  H.  Hauvette,  Luigi  Alamanni  (1495-1566),  sa  vie  et  son  ceitvre,  Paris, 
1903,  pp.  263  ff. 


Introduction  7 

imitations  of  the  Georglcs  sometimes  contain  more  or  less 
general  references  to  Vergil  ^^  as  the  model  followed ;  occa- 
sionally British  borrowings  from  Vergil  are  noted  by  the  bor- 
rowers themselves.-^  jSTo  critic  can  pass  over  Thomson's  debt 
to  Vergil  in  The  Seaso7is.  Logie  Robertson^*  has  some  important 
comments  on  it.  Macaulay  "^  dwells  upon  it  at  greater  length ; 
and  Otto  Zippel  -*^  in  his  variorum  edition  of  llie  Seasons  notes 
the  resemblances  and  borrowings  with  all  their  changes,  line 
for  line.  Lejay  ^"^  discussing  French  imitations  of  the  Georgics 
writes  suggestively  of  the  influence  of  Thomson's  Seasons  in 
helping  to  make  agriculture  a  mode  in  French  literature.  He 
remarks  briefly  on  the  translations  and  poems  of  Delille,  on  Les 
Saison^  of  Saint-Lambert,  and  on  Les  Mois  of  Roucher.  But 
no  one  has  studied  Thomson's  Seasons  as  a  development  of  the 
georgic  type,  the  chief  model  of  those  eighteenth  century  "  geor- 
giques  frangaises "  that  represent  no  attempt  to  convey 
practical  instructions,  but  still  illustrate  almost  all  the  motives 
of  Vergil's  Georgics.  Professor  W.  P.  Mustard  has  contributed 
an  article  on  "  Vergil's  Georgics  and  the  British  Poets,"  -^ 
in  which  he  points  out  definitely  almost  every  passage  in  British 
literature  echoing  or  imitating  the  Georgics^,  gives  a  list  of  Eng- 
lish poems  "  professedly  or  manifestly  "  imitations  of  the  Ver- 
gilian  didactics,  and  notes  a  number  of  the  favorite  Vergilian 
conventions ;  but  it  does  not  fall  within  his  purpose  to  discuss 
the  georgic  as  a  literary  type. 

It  would  require  prolonged  investigation  to  prepare  one's  self 
for  a  complete  treatise  on  the  georgic  as  a  type.  In  my  re- 
stricted study  of  the  subject  I  shall  attempt,  first,  to  define  the 

^  Cp.  Somerville,  Preface  to  The  Chase;  Akenside,  The  Pleasures  of  the 
Imagination. 

^^  Cp.  Cowper,  footnote  to  The  Task,  ni,  429,  a  misquotation  of  Georg.  n, 
82;   Gray's  note  on  Ode  to  Spring. 

^Thomson's  Seasons  and  Castle  of  Indolence,  Oxford,  1891. 

"  G.  C.  Macaulay,  James  Thomson,  London,  Maemillau  &  Co.,  1908. 

^Palaestra,  lxvi. 

*'  Op.  cit.,  Introd.,  p.  xxxvii. 

=«  Am.  J.  Phil.,  XXIX,  1  S. 


8  The  Georgic 

georgic  as  a  type  and  to  study  it  with  special  reference  to  its 
relation  to  tlie  pastoral;  second,  to  sketcli  the  most  prominent 
features  of  the  historical  development  of  the  georgic;  third,  to 
write  in  detail,  so  far  as  my  material  permits,  the  history  of 
English  georgics  that  treat  of  general  agi-iculture,  of  gardens 
and  of  field  sports,  discussing  also  to  some  extent  the  didactics 
on  these  themes  that  occur  in  French  and  in  Italian.^® 


^My  information  concerning  the  subject  in  Spanish  and  German  is 
casual,  since  I  have  excluded  both  literatures  from  the  range  of  my  study. 
I  am  not  aware  of  any  georgics  in  Spanish;  and  the  type,  except  as  it  is 
developed  in  Thomson's  Seasons,  seems  to  have  found  little  favor  among 
German  writers.  For  the  influence  of  Thompson's  Seasons  on  German 
literature,  cp.  K.  Gjerset,  Der  Einflv^s  von  James  Thomson's  "  Jahres- 
zeiten  "  auf  die  deutsche  Literatur  des  achzehnten  Jahrhunderts.  Heidel- 
berg, 1898. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type 


CHAPTER  II 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type 

1.     Vergil's  Georgics:  Their  Relation  to  the  Wor-hs  and 
Days  of  Hesiod. 

The  pastoral  has  come  down  to  ns  from  Theocritus,  largely 
thru  Vergil.  The  georgic,  also,  originated  with  the  Greeks. 
Varro  ^  names  many  writers  among  the  Greeks  who  wrote  of 
agi'iculture.  Some,  he  says,  treated  the  same  subject  in  verse, 
as  for  example,  Hesiod  of  Ascra,  and  Menecrates  of  Ephesus. 
The  verses  of  Menecrates  however,  remain  mere  tradition.  Of 
ISTicander's  Georgics/  there  are  left  only  fragments  that  in  no 
way  confirm  the  suggestion  of  Quintilian,^  that  Vergil  followed 
him ;  nor  do  any  other  critics  point  out  that  Vergil  owes  more 
to  ITicander  than  the  borrowings  from  the  Theriaca.^  The 
georgic  may  be  said  to  have  originated  with  the  Worhs  and 
Days  of  Hesiod,  but  it  has  come  down  to  us  as  a  literary  form 
thru  Vergil,  whose  Georgics  owe  far  less  to  Hesiod  than  his 
Eclogues  owe  to  Theocritus.  The  Eclogues  are  little  more  than 
artificial  copies,  often  mere  translations,  of  Theocritus ;  yet 
the  world  does  not  fail  to  acknowledge  the  charm  with  which 
Vergil  has  invested  them  as  his  own.  ISTames  as  great  as  those 
of  Horace,  Milton,  Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  and  Macaulay,  are 
found  in  the  list  of  their  admirers ;  but  none  the  less,  not  only 
the  literary  conventions,  but  also  much  that  is  best  in  them, 

1  Yaii-o  on  Farming.  Translated  by  Lloyd  Storr-Best,  London,  G.  Bell 
&  Sons,  1912,  p.  5. 

^  Nicander  lived  in  the  2nd  c.  B.  C.  The  fragments  of  his  lost  works 
are  edited  with  a  Latin  translation  by  A.  F.  Didot,  Poetae  BucoUci  et 
Didactici.     Graece  et  Latine.     Paris,  1862,  p.  15'^. 

^  Instit.  Orat.,  x,  1,  56. 

*  Cp.  T.  E.  Page,  P  Vergili  Ma/ronis  Bucolica  et  Oeorgica,  Macmillan  and 
Co.,  1910,  notes  on  Georg.  m,  425,  430,  513. 


10  The  Georgic 

Vergil  owes  to  Theocritus.  Even  the  landscape  portrayed  in 
tliem  may  sometimes  be  recognized  as  that  of  Sicily. 

Many  influences  were  at  work  in  the  poems  that  Sellar  de- 
clares to  be  '  almost  the  only  specimens  of  didactic  poetry  that 
the  world  cares  to  read.'  And  there  is  much  of  Hesiod  in  Ver- 
gil ;  but  it  is  Vergil,  not  Hesiod,  who  created  the  literary  form 
of  the  georgic. 

Some  idea  of  the  Worhs  and  Days  may  be  had  from  the  title 
page  of  Chapman's  Translation,^  "  The  Georgicks  of  Hesiod, 
by  George  Chapman:  Translated  elaborately  out  of  the  Greek. 
Containing  Doctrine  of  Husbandrie,  Morality  and  Piety,  with 
a  perpetual  calendar  of  Good  and  Bad  Dales ;  ITot  Superstitious, 
but  necessary  (as  far  as  natural  causes  compell)  for  all  men 
to  observe,  and  difference  in  following  their  affaires."  More 
tersely,  Aristophanes  sums  up  the  matter  (The  Frogs,  1033, 
translated  by  Hookham  Frere) : 

Next  came  old  Hesiod,  teaching  us  husbandry, 
Ploughing,  and  sowing,  and  rural  affairs, 
Rural  economy,  rural  astronomy, 
Homely  morality,  labor  and  thrift. 

Hesiod  does  not  purport  to  write  a  systematic  treatise  on 
agriculture.  He  begins  by  invoking  the  Muses,  and  continues 
with  a  personal  address  to  Perses,  his  brother,  who  has  wronged 
him,  and  seems  in  need  of  advice.  Here  ensues  a  moralization 
on  strife;  then  the  story  of  Pandora  is  told,  in  explanation  of 
the  necessity  of  toil,  and  of  the  difficulties  of  life.  Prom  this, 
arises  an  account  of  the  Golden  Age,  and  the  evil  days  that 
followed  thereafter.  Perses  is  exhorted  to  justice  and  work, 
and  is  given  various  wise  counsels.  Then  the  poet  cries,  "  l^ow 
if  thy  heart  in  thy  breast  is  set  on  wealth,  do  thou  thus  and 
work  one  work  upon  another  " ;  an  interesting  introduction  to 
what  may  be  called  the  only  purely  georgic  part  of  the  WorJcs 
and  Days,  for  the  labors  that  are  to  bring  Perses  wealth  are  the 
labors  of  the  husbandman.     Hesiod  follows  his  exhortation  by 

"London,   1618. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type  11 

a  series  of  desultory  precepts  concerning  husbandry;  when  to 
plow  and  how  to  plow,  what  signs  to  follow,  what  evils  to  avoid. 
After  this,  he  proceeds  with  advice  concerning  seafaring,  the 
time  to  marry,  the  pouring  of  libations  to  the  gods,  and  other 
miscellaneous  matters.  Then  follows  a  calendar  of  lucky  and 
unlucky  days,  and  the  poem  concludes,  "  Therein  happy  and 
blessed  is  he,  who  knowing  all  these  things,  worketh  his  work, 
blameless  before  the  deathless  gods,  reading  omens  and  avoid- 
ing sin." 

From  this  sketch  it  may  be  seen  that  Hesiod's  poem  is  not  a 
carefully  planned,  artistically  perfect  structure.  Even  through 
the  medium  of  a  prose  translation,^  nevertheless,  the  work  has 
a  singular  charm.  In  Chapman's  couplets,  much  of  this  is 
inevitably  lost;  but  in  Professor  Mair's  prose,  the  freshness, 
the  vigor  of  style,  the  personality  of  the  poet,  carry  the  reader 
back  to  earlier  ages  when  philosophy  walked  in  homely  garb, 
and  the  world  learned  as  yet  little  from  libraries,  much  from 
life.  Hesiod  is  counsellor,  husbandman,  and  poet.  Stories  of 
gods  and  men  he  knows,  superstitions,  perhaps  for  all  his  scorn 
of  women,  old  wives'  tales.  He  has  lived  in  the  fields,  has 
learned  the  signs  that  ISTature  has  set  for  man  to  read,  and  he 
is  at  home  with  the  winds  and  the  stars. 

Vergil  grew  up  among  the  woods  and  plains  of  Italy,  a  coun- 
try boy  with  a  poet's  soul,  a  poet's  clear-sighted  eyes,  and  finely 
attuned  hearing.  But  he  became  conversant  with  the  learning 
of  his  day.  He  absorbed  the  teaching  of  generations  of  poets 
and  philosophers ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  his  poetic  career  the 
glory  of  Lucretius  was  still  new.  He  professes  to  sing  the  song 
of  Hesiod,'''  and  he  builds  upon  the  model  of  Lucretius.  He 
enriches  his  poems  with  wisdom  gleaned  from  writers  on  natu- 
ral history  and  astronomy,  and  makes  them  practical  by  sound 
precepts,  drawn  not  only  from  his  own  experience,  but  from 
the  tested  writings  of  authorities  such  as  the  Carthaginian 
Mago,  the  Greeks  Democritus  and  Xenophon,  the  Latins  Cato 

'^Hesiod,  translated  by  A.  W.  Mair,  Oxford,  1908. 

■  Aseraeumque  cano  Romana  per  oppida  carmen,  Georg.  ii,  176. 


12  The  Georgic 

and  Varro.  And  he  writes  steeped  in  the  inspiration  of  Lucre- 
tius. But  the  life  that  he  depicts  is  the  life  that  he  knew, 
Italian  life  against  a  background  of  Italian  landscape.  In  the 
making  of  his  poems  he  reveals  himself  a  reader  of  books,  a 
lover  of  philosophy,  but  a  greater  lover  of  his  native  land;  a 
good  husbandman,  and  a  wise  giver  of  advice,  but  over  and  above 
everything  a  great  poet. 

An  account  of  the  sources  of  the  Georgics  may  be  read  in  any 
important  history  of  Roman  literature,  and  in  most  of  the  de- 
tailed studies  of  Vergil's  work.  His  indebtedness  may  be 
traced  in  detail,  thru  various  scholarly  editions  of  the  Georgics. 
Sellar's  book  is  particularly  valuable  with  regard  to  the  rela- 
tions between  Vergil  and  Lucretius,  and  to  the  part  that  Maece- 
nas played  in  the  composition  of  the  poems.  Maecenas  probably 
had  some  influence  in  Vergil's  choice  of  a  subject  peculiarly 
suited  to  t}ie  policy  of  the  times,  a  policy  begun  with  the  ill- 
fated  efforts  of  the  Gracchi.  Luxury  and  vice  had  inevitably 
followed  in  the  wake  of  Roman  conquest.  Long  civil  wars  had 
torn  the  country,  and  men  loved  the  soldier's  life  of  daring  and 
adventure  better  than  steady  quiet,  the  routine  of  the  farmer's 
toil.  The  city's  lure  was  probably  very  much  then  what  it  is 
now.  Moreover,  during  the  long  wars,  there  had  been  times 
when  the  regular  government  was  almost  suspended.  '  Right 
had  become  wrong,  and  wrong  right ;  the  fields  lay  waste,  their 
cultivators  being  taken  away,  and  the  crooked  scythes  forged 
into  swords'  (Georg.  i,  505-8).  Only  a  revival  of  the  ancient 
Roman  principles  could  restore  the  ancient  Roman  greatness. 
A  new  theme  was  offered  to  the  poet.  '  Others  that  in  song 
might  have  held  frivolous  minds  were  now  all  grown  common- 
place'  (Georg.  iii,  2-4).  Vergil  felt  the  inspiration,  and  so 
composed  the  poems  that  were  to  celebrate  the  arts  of  peace, 
the  glorification  of  honest  toil,  the  praises  of  his  native  land. 

ISTaturally,  the  didactic  was  the  form  selected  for  the  poem. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  Vergil  was  fired  by  a  desire  to  be- 
come the  Hesiod,^  as  he  was  already  the  Theocritus,  of  the 

*  Cp.  Sellar,  op.  cit.,  p.  175. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type  13 

Romans.  And  in  the  De  Ret'um  Natura,  Lucretius  had  shown 
the  great  possibilities  of  didactic  poetry.  With  utmost  reverence 
for  the  work  of  Lucretius,  but  with  fine  understanding  of  his 
own  powers,  Vergil  gave  himself  to  the  writing  of  the  Georgics, 
perfecting  the  meter  that  Lucretius  had  suggested  to  him,  and 
adapting  Lucretius'  plan  to  his  own  needs. 

2.     Subject  Matter  of  the  Georgics 

The  Georgics  are  written  in  four  books,  each  a  complete  poem, 
dealing,  as  the  name  implies,  with  a  subject  connected  with 
agricultural  pursuits.  The  first  book  treats  of  the  preparation 
of  the  soil ;,  the  second  of  planting,  grafting  and  pruning ;  the 
third  of  cattle ;  the  fourth  of  bees. 

The  subject  matter  of  the  poems  may  be  analyzed  as  follows : 

Book  I 

1-5.    Address  to  Maecenas,  announcing  the  subjects  of  the 
four  poems, 
5-42.    Address  to  the  rural  deities;   Augustus  eulogized, 
named  as  one  of  the  gods. 
43-63.    Of  preparing  soils;  the  time  to  sow;  of  winds  and 
other  variations  of  the  weather.     Products  pecu- 
liar   to    different    soils.     Digression    on    foreign 
countries   and   their   products.     Allusion   to   the 
story  of  Deucalion. 
63-70.    The  time  to  plow. 
71-11 Y.    Of  alternating  crops;  treatment  of  poor  lands. 
117-159.    Annoyances  that  harass  the  farmer,  due  to  Father 
Jove's  desire  to  strengthen  men  by  teaching  them 
the  use  of  their  powers.     Of  the  Golden  Age.^ 
l^ecessity  of  constant  work,  warfare  and  prayer. 

'  In  his  treatment  of  the  Golden  Age,  Vergil  partly  follows  Hesiod  in 
accepting  it  as  a  former  age,  carefree  and  happy.  But  Hesiod  regards  the 
passing  of  the  Golden  Age  as  a  pimishment  of  the  gods  for  the  theft  of 
Prometheus;    just   as   the    Biblical   tradition   makes  the   loss   of   Eden   a 


14  The  Georgic 

160-175.    Farm  implements  described. 

176-230.  Precepts  concerning  precautions  against  various  an- 
noyances ;  the  signs  of  a  good  season ;  the  prepara- 
tion of  seeds;  necessity  for  observation  of  the 
constellations. 

231-259.    Episode  of  the  five  zones. 

259-275.  Labors  that  may  be  done  in  wet  weather;  on  holy 
days. 

276-286.    Of  favorable  and  unfavorable  days. 

287-310.    Winter  relaxations  and  occupations. 

311-334.    Of  autumn  tempests;  a  storm  described. 

335-350.  Fearing  the  elements,  observe  the  skies,  venerate  the 
gods;  offer  the  annual  rites  to  Ceres;  Ceres' 
rites  ^^  described. 

351-464.    Weather  signs;  warnings  of  the  sun  and  moon. 

465-497.  Signs  and  omens  attending  Csesar's  death.  Horrors 
of  the  resulting  civil  war. 

498-514.  Prayer  to  the  gods  to  preserve  Caesar  to  save  a  lost 
and  ruined  age,  wherein  the  plow  has  none  of  its 
due  honor,  and  mad  Mars  rages  over  all  the  globe. 

Book  II 

1-8.    Preceding  subject  stated;  new  subject  announced. 
Bacchus  invoked. 
9-90.    Varieties  of  trees ;  best  method  of  cultivating  differ- 
ent varieties. 
91-109.    Great  variety  of  vines;  impossibility  of  naming  all. 
110-135.    Products  peculiar  to   different  regions;  to  foreign 
lands. 

punishment  for  the  eating  of  the  forbidden  apple.  Vergil's  conception  is 
nobler,  his  practical  philosophy  bears  a  curious  analogy  to  the  apostolic 
teaching  of  the  strengthening  power  of  tribulation.  Tliis  may  or  may  not 
be  the  core  of  Vergil's  religious  belief,  but  it  is  the  most  characteristic 
passage  of  the  Georgics,  emphasizing  the  central  theme  of  the  poem, — the 
necessity  and  the  value  of  hardships  and  continual  labor. 
"  The  Ambarvalia. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type  15 

136-176.    Panegyric  of  Italy,  blessed  above  all  other  lands. 

177-258.  Of  soils;  different  qualities  adapted  to  different  pro- 
ducts; of  testing  soils. 

259-314.    Methods  and  time  of  planting  and  pruning. 

315-345.    Descriptive  episode — of  Spring. 

346-370.  Further  precepts  concerning  the  care  of  vines  and 
trees. 

371-379.  Of  protecting  the  vine  from  cattle,  especially  from 
the  wild  goat. 

380-396.  Digression — of  the  sacrifice  of  the  goat  to  Bacchus; 
rural  feasts  in  Bacchus'  honor. 

397-419.    Of  the  husbandman's  recurring  labor. 

420-458.  Gifts  that  earth  supplies  of  herself,  or  in  return  for 
little  care.  Various  uses  of  trees,  gifts  better 
than  those  of  Bacchus.  Allusion  to  the  battle  of 
the  Centaurs. 

459-474.  The  blessings  of  country  life  contrasted  with  the 
troubled  luxuries  of  cities. 

475-494.  Prayer  to  the  Muses — first,  that  the  poet  be  granted 
to  know  the  causes  of  things.  This  denied,  the 
love  of  woods  and  streams  and  fields.  He  is  blest 
who  has  cast  aside  superstition  and  the  fear  of 
death,  but  he  is  blest  also  who  knows  the  rural 
gods. 

496-540.  Continuation  of  the  praise  of  country  life;  the  life 
led  by  the  Romans  of  old,  whereby  their  country 
became  the  greatest  of  the  earth. 

541-542.  Conclusion, — But  we  have  travelled  over  an  immense 
space ;  it  is  time  to  loosen  the  reeking  necks  of  our 
steeds. 

Book  III 

1-9.    Subject  stated,   cattle  and  their  guardian  deities; 

necessity  of  choosing  a  new  theme. 
10-39.    A  future  poem  allegorically  described. 
40-48.    Meanwhile  the  subject  requested  by  Maecenas  (no 

light  task),  must  be  pursued. 


16 


The  Georgic 


49-102. 


103-145. 
146-156. 
157-208. 
209-283. 

284-285. 

286-288. 
289-293. 


294-321. 
322-338. 


339-383. 

384-403. 
404-413. 

414-439. 
440-469. 

470-532. 


Of  breeding  cattle.  (66-68,  A  mournfiil  reflection 
interposed  on  the  quick  passing  of  the  best  in 
human  life.) 

A  chariot  race  described;  of  chariot  racing. 

Of  the  gadfly;  allusion  to  the  story  of  Ino. 

Of  training  calves  and  colts. 

Ill  effects  of  blind  love  on  man  and  beast. 

But  meanwhile  time  flies,  as  beguiled  by  love  of  the 
subject  we  linger  upon  each  detail. 

Enough  of  flocks,  the  task  remains  to  treat  of  woolly 
sheep  and  shaggy  goats. 

The  poet  realizes  the  difiiculty  of  his  subject,  but  his 
cherished  desire  leads  him  to  the  neglected  heights 
of  Parnassus,  where  no  poet  has  trodden  before. 

The  care  of  sheep  and  goats,  especially  in  winter. 

A  shepherd's  summer  day,  from  the  first  appearance 
of  the  morning  star  to  the  rising  of  cool  Vesper 
and  the  dewy  moon. 

Shepherd  life  in  foreign  lands,  in  the  tropics  and  in 
the  arctic  regions. 

Precautions  in  the  securing  of  wool;  of  milk. 

Advice  not  to  neglect  the  care  of  dogs;  the  value 
of  dogs  as  protectors  and  in  the  chase. 

The  care  of  folds;  pests  that  must  be  destroyed. 

Causes  and  signs  of  distress  among  sheep ;  preven- 
tives and  remedies. 

Frequency  of  plagues  among  cattle;  description  of 
a  cattle  plague. 


Book  IV 


"  The    divine    gift    of    aerial 


1-7.    Subject    announced 
honey." 
8-32.    Of  sites  for  hives. 
33-50.    Of  hives. 
51—66.    Of  hiving  swarms. 
67-87.    Battles  among  the  bees;  how  to  check  such  contests. 


The  Creation  of  the  Georgic  Type  17 

88-102.  Of  choosing  the  victorious  leader,  and  the  better 
subjects. 

103-115.  Of  plucking  the  King's  wings  to  prevent  battle;  of 
inviting  the  bees  with  gardens. 

116-148.  Were  the  work  not  so  nearly  ended  the  poet  might 
sing  of  gardens,  for  he  remembers  the  wonders 
wrought  by  a  poor  old  man  of  Tarentum,  with  his 
garden  and  his  hives;  but  prevented  by  limited 
space  he  must  leave  the  task  to  others.  ^^ 

149-218.  iSTatural  qualities  and  instincts  of  bees.  Their  com- 
munity life;  their  customs. 

219-227.  Beliefs  in  pantheism  and  immortality  held  by  some 
as  a  result  of  the  intelligence  observed  in  bees. 

228-250.    Of  collecting  honey. 

251-280.    Care  of  sick  bees. 

281-558.  Of  recovering  the  loss  of  a  whole  stock  of  bees.  Epi- 
sode of  Aristaeus,  whose  bees  were  destroyed  in 
punishment  of  his  crime  against  Eurydice. 

559-566.  Conclusion.  Reference  to  composition  of  the  Ec- 
logues. 

The  foregoing  outline  may  give  some  idea  of  the  difficulties 
and  of  the  possibilities  of  the  georgic.  For  me  to  attempt  a 
criticism  of  Vergil's  work  would  be  alike  unnecessary  and  un- 
profitable ;  the  world  lias  too  long  justified  the  truth  of  the 
poet's  words  (Georg.  iv,  5-6)  : 

in  tenui  labor ;  at  tenuis  non  gloria,  si  qiiem 
numina  laeva  sinunt  auditque  vocatus  Apollo. 

The  arguments  for  and  against  didactic  poetry  need  no  re- 
petition. Even  those  most  prejudiced  can  not  deny  Vergil's 
success.  The  heaviest  charge  brought  against  him  is  that  he 
is  not  concerned  to  make  his  teachings  practical,  but  that  he 
uses  homely  details  only  as  a  foil  to  poetic  situations  and  de- 

" "  A  graceful  interpolation,  sketching  what  might  have  been  a  fifth 
Georgic." — Conington,  op.  cit. 


18  The  Georgic 

scriptions.^^  There  is  testimony,  however,  that  even  YergiFs 
most  prosaic  teachings  have  been  I'ead  with  delight ;  and  Page  ^" 
notes  a  curious  proof  of  the  neglect  of  the  valuable  matter  con- 
tained in  the  Ge.orgics.  According  to  the  Encyclopcedia  Bri- 
ianmca,^'^  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  alter- 
nation of  crops  was  just  becoming  a  common  practice  in  Eng- 
land, a  great  improvement  upon  the  previous  and  common  us- 
affe  of  exhaustins:  the  land  and  then  letting  it  recover  its 
strength  by  lying  fallow.  In  Georg.  i,  7-83,  this  improved  sys- 
tem had  been  recommended  by  Vergil  eighteen  centuries  before. 
It  is  probably  true  that  no  peasant  ever  drew  material  pro- 
fit from  the  Georgics,  and  it  is  certainly  true  that  Vergil's 
poems  are  not  addressed  to  the  uneducated.  But  a  proof  that  the 
Georgics  have  been  of  influence  in  life  as  well  as  literature  may 
be  had  from  the  statement  of  Pierre  Larousse  '^^  that  the  lean- 
ing towards  agriculture  of  the  learned  Italian  scientific  farmer, 
Felippo  Re,  was  decided  h\  the  reading  of  Vergil's  Georgics. 


"  Cp.  T.  DeQuincey,  "  The  Poetry  of  Pope,"  The  Collected  Writings,  ed. 
D.  Masson,  Edinburgh,  1890,  vol.  xi,  p.  91. 
"  Op.  cit.,  Introd.,  xxxvii. 
"  S.  v..  Agriculture,  e.  2,  §  i. 
"  Gra/nd.  Diet.  Univ.  du  XI Xe  Sii'cle,  T.  13. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  19 


CHAPTER  III 


The  Eelation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral 
1.    Distinction  between  the  Georgic  and  the  Pastoral 

The  etymology  of  the  term  pastoral  is  a  guide  to  the  narrower 
meaning  of  the  word,  a  meaning  still  given  in  the  Century 
Dictionary, — "  Pastoral,  a  poem  describing  the  life  and,  man- 
ners of  shepherds.''  But  pastoral  is  used  also  to  characterize 
anv  literature  that  describes  a  simple  rural  life,  such  as  Burns' 
Cotter's  Saturday  Night,  or  Walton's  Compleat  Angler,  which 
Hazlitt  ^  calls  "  the  best  pastoral  in  our  language." 

Eclogue,  '  a  selection,'  and  idyll,  '  a  little  picture,'  or  '  a  little 
poem,'  would  seem  broader  in  meaning  than  pastoral.  But 
thruout  English  literature  all  three  terms  have  been  gener- 
ally nsed  as  synonyms;  hence  the  development  of  the  incon- 
gruous types  of  so-called  pastorals,  and  eclogues,  and  idylls, 
such  for  example  as  the  pastoral  elegy,  the  allegorical  eclogue 
or  pastoral,  the  piscatory  eclogue,  and  the  town  eclogue.^  Theo- 
critus' poems  are  named  Idylls.  But  Cowley  ^  in  his  essay 
Of  Agriculture,  writes,  "  Theocritus  (a  very  ancient  poet,  but 
he  was  one  of  our  tribe,  for  he  wrote  nothing  but  Pastorals)," 
altho  as  Mr.  Kerlin  says,  half  the  idylls  of  Theocritus  are 
not  poems  of  rural  life. 

Yergil,  presumably,  called  his  imitations  of  Theocritus  Bu- 
colics,'^ and  in  Georg.  ix,  .565,  he  alludes  to  them  as  "  carmina 
pastorum."  According  to  Page,  the  grammarians  probably 
gave  them  the  name  eclogues.     The  indiscriminate  use  as  syno- 

MV.  Hazlitt,  "On  John  Buncle."  The  Round  Table;  a  Collection  of 
Essays  on  Literature,  Men,  and  Manners,  3rd  ed.,  London,  1841. 

'Cf.  E.  T.  Kerlin,  Theocritus  in  Eng.  Lit.,  Lynchburg,  Va.,  1910,  App.  2, 
p.  181. 

^A.  Cowley,  Essays  and  Other  Prose  Writings,  ed.  by  Alfred  B.  Gough, 
Oxford,  191.5,  p.   141. 

*  Cf.  Page,  op.  cit.,  Introd.,  x,  n.  1  and  n.  2. 


20  The  Georgic 

nyms  of  the  four  terms,  Idyll,  Bucolic,  Eclogue,  and  Pastoral, 
seems  therefore  based  on  Roman  authority,  a  fact  which  Mr. 
Kerlin  fails  to  mention.  Vergil's  "  carmina  pastorum  "  and  his 
Georgics  are  usually  edited  together,  either  as  Bucolics  and 
Georgics,  or  as  Eclogues  and  Georgics.  This  may  be  one  reason 
why  the  pastoral  and  the  georgic  are  still  so  frequently  con- 
fused ;  another  reason  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  fashions 
of  the  pastoral,  as  of  the  georgic,  owe  so  much  to  Vergil. 

Georgic  ^  means  literally  '  earth-work,'  or  '  field-work,'  hence 
a  poem  that  treats  of  work  in  the  fields,  of  husbandry,  or  more 
broadly,  of  rural  occupations.  According  to  Addison,®  "  the 
Georgic  deals  with  rules  of  practice.  A  kind  of  poetry  that 
addresses  itself  wholly  to  the  imagination ;  it  is  altogether  con- 
versant among  the  fields  and  woods,  and  has  the  most  delightful 
part  of  Mature  for  its  province.  It  raises  in  our  minds  a  pleas- 
ing variety  of  scenes  and  landscapes,  while  it  teaches  us,  and 
makes  the  dryest  of  its  precepts  look  like  a  description.  A 
Georgic  therefore  is  some  part  of  the  science  of  husbandry,  put 
into  a  pleasing  dress,  and  set  off  with  all  the  beauties  and  em- 
bellishments of  poetry." 

In  noting  that  the  georgic  deals  with  rural  occupations  its 
agreement  with  the  pastoral  is  seen  at  once.  Both  have  the  same 
background,  and  shepherd  life  may  be  depicted  in  both.  In 
both  one  finds  the  element  of  delight  in  country  life.  But  in 
Addison's  definition  the  words  "  science  "  and  "  rules  of  prac- 
tice," strike  at  once  a  vital  difi'erence.  The  georgic,  as  Vergil 
planned  it,  purports  to  instruct  scientifically  by  means  of  tech- 
nical terms  and  a  use  of  practical  details.  The  writer,  speak- 
ing in  the  first  person,  recounts  his  experience  for  the  reader's 
benefit,  incidentally  making  use  of  various  ornamental  devices. 
The  pastoral,   as  Theocritus  and  Vergil  left  the  form,  never 

^  Gk.  7^,  the  earth,  root  ep-y  of  epyov  work.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  altho  Vergil  goes  to  the  Greeks  for  the  names  of  his  poems,  he  does 
not  owe  them  either  to  Hesiod  or  Theocritus.  Chapman  called  his  trans- 
lation "  The  Georgicks  of  Hesiod,"  after  Vergil.  Vergil  probably  owes  the 
name  to  Nicander. 

•  Op.  cit. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  21 

assumes  directly  the  purpose  of  instructing.  It  is  most  often 
dramatic  in  nature,  and  the  characters  are  frequently  repre- 
sented as  speaking,  or  singing,  often  in  dialogue.  The  shepherd 
of  Vergil's  pastoral  does  not  suggest  the  idea  of  toil.  jSTeither 
is  he  bowed  under  the  weight  of  responsibility,  troubled  unduly 
by  the  doubtful  blessing  of  ownership  and  family  cares.  He 
does  not  scruple  to  neglect  his  sheep  for  love  of  some  scornful 
maid;  often  he  watches  over  the  possessions  of  another,  and  he 
does  not  dare  even  to  wager  a  fat  lamb,  if  an  inconvenient  step- 
mother waits  at  home  to  take  count  of  the  returning  flocks. 
He  has  his  share  of  grievances,  but  his  occupation  is  one  Avhereiu 
he  may  pass  joyous  and  comparatively  idle  hours,  in  which, 
like  Tityrus  reclining  under  the  shade  of  a  spreading  beech,  he 
meditates  the  woodland  muse  on  his  slender  reed. 

The  pastoral  themes  are  few,  the  singing  match,  the  dirge, 
the  love  lay,  the  conventional  forms  fixed  by  Theocritus  and 
imitated  by  Vergil,  who  "  by  including  among  his  Bucolic  piece? 
the  famous  '  Pollio  '  "  "  added  thereto  the  panegyric,  so  marked 
a  feature  of  the  georgic,  and  with  his  "  freer  use  "  of  the  pas- 
toral disguise  is  accredited  wdth  having  given  rise  to  the  pasto- 
ral allegory.  But  no  matter  what  the  theme,  there  is  always 
in  the  setting  of  the  poem  an  atmosphere  of  golden  days,  a  re- 
moteness from  the  practical  business  of  life.  Daphnis  is  dead, 
but  he  "  delights  in  restful  peace,"  and  his  companions  are 
happy  in  erecting  an  altar  to  him.  Meliboeus  is  driven  from 
his  fatherland,  a  mournful  exile,  but  his  grief  only  serves  to 
heighten  the  effect  of  the  idle  joys  of  the  fortunate  Tityrus, 
Tityrus  who  is  allowed  to  remain  piping  under  the  beeches' 
shade.  Shadows  fall  from  the  mountains  as  the  sun  declines, 
but  of  storm  clouds  and  devastating  rains  one  hears  almost 
nothing.  The  tragedies,  as  well  as  the  petty  ills  that  mark  the 
constant  struggle  of  life,  are  left  aside.     The  shepherd  sings 

'  Cf.  C.  H.  Herford,  ed.  of  the  Shepheards  Calendar,  London,  Macmillan 
&  Co.,  1907,  Introd.,  xxx.  Herford  does  not  note  the  fact  that  Vergil  found 
both  the  panegyric  and  the  Pollio  motive  of  pastoral  peace  in  Tlieocritus. 
Cp.  Idylls,  XVI  and  xvii. 


22  The  Georgic 

untroubled  by  the  swift  and  cruel  passing  of  time.  What  sor- 
rows he  has  are  the  sweet  sorrows  of  youth ;  he  experiences  no 
foreshadowing  of  the  weight  of  responsibility  and  the  bitter 
coming  of  old  age.  And  so,  the  pastoral  that  Vergil  left  as  a 
model  for  future  generations  has  come  down  to  us  signifying 
almost  always  the  dream  of  Arcadian  life.  Little  wonder  that 
a  frivolous  queen  and  her  short-sighted  court  should  have  for- 
gotten a  starving  peasantry  w^hile  playing  at  the  pastoral. 

True,  there  are  pastorals  of  the  conventional  type  that  dwell 
more  or  less  upon  the  petty  ills  of  life;  for  example,  in  the 
eclogue  of  Severus  Sanctus,  De  Mortibus  Boum,,^  two  herds- 
men converse  on  the  subject  of  a  cattle  plague;  the  evils  of  life 
seem  largely  responsible  for  the  bitter  tongues  of  Mantuan's 
shepherds ;  Spenser  not  only  satirizes  the  failings  of  church  and 
state,  ]>ut  he  shows  the  discomfort  of  the  shepherd's  life,  draw- 
ing a  bleak  picture  of  "  rancke  Winter's  rage."  Thus  the  old 
Thenot  rebukes  the  suffering  Cuddie  (^'  Februarie,"  9-24)  : 

Lewdly   complainest  thou,  laesie   ladde, 
Of  Winters  wracke  for  making  thee  sadde. 
From  good  to  badd,  and  from  badde  to  worse, 
From  worse  unto  that  is  worst  of  all, 
And  then  returne  to  his  former  fall? 
Who  will  not  suflFer  the  stormy  time, 
Where  will  he  live  tyll  the  lusty  prime? 
Selfe  have  I  worn  out  thrise  threttie  yeares, 
Some  in  much  joy,  many  in  many  teares, 
Yet  never  complained  of  cold  nor  heate, 
Of  Sommers  flame,  nor  of  Winters  threat, 
Ne  ever  was  to  Fortune  foeman, 
But  gently  took  that  ungently  came; 
And  ever  my  flocke  was  my  chief  care, 
Winter  or  Sommer  they  mought  well  fare. 

Thirsis,  in  Eclogue  i,  of  Sabie's  Pans  Pipe/^  complains  of 
the  death  of  a  ewe,  and  the  loss  of  a  "  tidie  lamb  "  that  the 
'  Fox  did  eate,'  while  the  shepherd  slept  under  a  thicket,     Ty- 

^  Antholoffia  Latina,  ed.  A.  Kiese,  Leipzig,  1906,  ii,  334. 
'Reprinted  by  J.  W.  Bright  and  W.  P.  Mustard,  Modern  Philology,  vii, 
433  S.,  April,  1910.     For  Sabie's  debt  to  Mantuan,  see  pp.  436  ff. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  23 

terns  seeks  to  console  him  with  proverbial  wisdom,  but  Thirsis, 
paraphrasing  Mantuan,  bitterly  replies: 

Good  counsell  Tyterus,  but  not  so  easily  followed, 

Man  is  born  in  griefe,  and  grieueth  at  euery  mishap. 

I  think  we  shepheards  take  greatest  paines  of  all  others, 

Sustaine  greatest  losses,  we  be  tryed  with  daylie  labour, 

With  colde  in  winter,  with  heat  in  summer  oppressed. 

To  manie  harmes  our  tender  flockes,  to  manie  diseases 

Our  sheep  are  subject,  the  thiefe  praies  ouer  our  heardlings, 

And  worse  then  the  thief,  the  Fox  praies  ouer  our  heardlings, 

Thus  we  poor  heardsmen  are  pinched  and  plagu'd  aboue  other. 

But  Spenser's  Thenot  finds  time  to  discourse  at  length  to  the 
unhappie  Cuddie,  and  ends  by  telling  his  willing  listener  a 
long  fable ;  Sable's  Thirsis,  who  refuses  to  be  comforted  by  pro- 
verbial wisdom,  allows  himself  to  be  kept  awake,  and  even 
diverted,  by  Tyterus'  account  of  an  "  ancient  love."  And  the 
great  bulk  of  pastoral  literature  hardly  touches  upon  the  rugged 
ways  of  life ;  it  depicts  the  shepherd  of  Arcadia,  whether  Arca- 
dia be  England,  or  Italy,  or  France. 

Repeating  the  first  line  of  the  Eclogues  with  a  slight  varia- 
tion, Vergil  ends  his  fourth  Georgic: 

illo  Vergilium  me  tempore  dulcis  alebat 
Parthenope,  studiis  florentem  ignobilis  oti, 
carmina  qui  lusi  pastoriun  audaxque  iuventa, 
Tityre,  te  patulae  cecini  sub  tegmine  fagi  ^^ 

The  traditional  date  of  composition  of  the  Eclogues  is  from 
42  to  37  B.  c.  According  to  Vergil's  own  words  he  was  '  bold 
thru  youth  when  he  lightly  made  these  songs  of  shepherds ' ;  ^^ 
it  is  natural  enough  that  they  should  be  mainly  concerned  with 
love  and  happiness.  The  Georgics  were  composed  later,  between 
the  years  37  and  30  b.  c.^  when  the  poet  was  no  longer  bold, 
but  courageous  with  the  experience  and  wisdom  of  later  years. 
If  the  phrase  omnia  vincit  Amor  ^"  is  characteristic  of  the 
eclogue,  the  phrase  labor  omnia  vicit  ^^  is  even  more  character- 

^"Ecl.  I.  1.     Tityre,  tu  patulae  recubans  sub  tegmine  fagi. 

"  Georg.  iv,  565.  "  Eel.  X,  69.  "  Georg.  i,  145. 


24  The  Georgic 

istic  of  the  georgic;  for  the  georgic  is  concerned  mostly  with 
work,  little  with  leisure,  altho  it  depicts  the  farmer's  life 
thru  all  seasons  of  the  year.  It  shows  glimpses  of  rural 
festivities,  as  in  i,  299  ff.,  ii,  385  ff.,  ii,  527  tf.,  and  idyllically 
peaceful  scenes  that  have  the  golden  age  quality  of  the  pastoral, 
as  in  the  closing  passages  of  the  second  book.  But  thruout 
these  scenes,  upheld  by  a  noble  ideal,  the  poet  writes  in  a  far 
higher  key  than  in  the  pastoral.  Unlike  the  shepherd  lad,  the 
husbandman  bears  the  responsibility  of  ownership,  the  weight 
of  family  cares.  Tilling  his  soil,  or  in  moments  of  enforced 
leisure,  making  ready  the  "  arms  "  with  which  to  conquer  the 
difficulties  in  his  way,  he  takes  earnest  thought  how  he  may  get 
the  best  from  that  which  is  his  own,  and  provide  for  the  family 
that  depends  upon  him.  He  wastes  no  time  lamenting  scorned 
affection,  nor  does  he  spend  words  vaunting  the  beauty  of  his 
love.  He  rejoices  calmly  in  the  happiness  of  wedded  life, — 
his  sweet  children  hang  on  his  neck,  his  '  chaste  house  keeps 
its  purity.'  ^*  The  greatness  of  Rome  depends  upon  a  virtuous 
family  life,  upon  '  a  youth  enduring  in  labour,  accustomed  to 
frugality.'  ^^^ 

But  while  in  the  Georgics  Vergil  shows  glimpses  of  a  golden 
age  and  the  gifts  that  Earth  offers  of  herself,  he  never  lets  his 
reader  quite  forget  the  necessity  of  constant  labor.  And  there 
is  realism  enough  in  the  often  quoted  lines,  iii^  66-68, 

Optima  quaeque  dies  miseris  mortalibus  aevi 
prima  fugit;   subeunt  morbi  tristisque  senectus 
et  labor,  et  durae  rapit  inclementia  mortis, 

and  in  the  account  of  the  evils  and  dangers  that  threaten  men 
daily,  from  the  small  annoyances  of  the  insatiable  goose  and 
the  Strymonian  crane  to  the  splendid  fury  of  devasting 
storms.  With  respect  to  their  treatment  of  rural  life,  Vergil's 
Bucolics  are  fittingly  called  Eclogues,  '  selections.'  In  the 
Georgics  the  poet  attempts  to  deal  broadly  with  the  whole. 

With  respect  to  its  conventional  form,  the  georgic  may  be 
analyzed  as  follows: 

"  Georg.  ii,  524.  "*  Georg.  ii,  472. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral 


25 


Subject  matter 
Central  theme: 


Treatment ; 


Chief  features: 


A  rural  occupation. 

The  glorification  of  labor;  the  praise  of 
simple  country  life  in  contrast  with  the 
troubled  luxury  of  palaces. 

Didactic,  with  precepts  varied  by  digres- 
sions arising  from  the  theme,  or  related 
to  the  subject  matter. 

Formal  opening,  a  statement  of  the  sub- 
ject: this  followed  by  an  invocation  to 
the  Muses  or  other  guiding  spirits. 

Address  to  the  poet's  patron. 

Panegyrics  of  great  men. 

Mythological  allusions. 

References  to  foreign  lands,  ,their  pro- 
ducts, climate,  customs. 

Time  marked  by  the  position  of  the  con- 
stellations. 

Proverbial  sayings. 

Moralizations  and  philosophical  reflections. 

Discussion  of  the  Golden  Age. 

Discussion  of  weather  signs. 

Description  of  country  pastimes. 

Descriptions  of  ISTature. 

Love  of  peace;  horror  of  war. 

A  lament  over  present  day  evils,  which  are 
contrasted  with  the  virtues  and  glories 
of  the  past. 

Rhapsody  on  the  poet's  native  land. 

A  long  narrative  episode, — in  Vergil,  the 
story  of  Aristaeus. 


26  The  Georgic 

2.  The  Pastoral,  a  literary  type  of  frequent  occurrence, 
made  famous  by  great  poets;  the  Georgic,  a  literary 
type  coincidentally  neglected. 

The  "  abundance  of  criticism  "  spent  on  the  pastoral,  and 
the  coincident  neglect  of  the  georgic  is  easily  explained;  in 
part,  bj  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the  former  type,  the  com- 
parative rarity  of  the  latter;  in  part,  by  the  great  beauty  of 
certain  pastoral  compositions,  the  tediousness  of  almost  all 
georgic  poetry.  A  type  of  poetry  of  frequent  occurrence  neces- 
sarily excites  critical  interest.  If,  at  its  first  appearance,  a 
literary  product  is  justly  condemned,  criticism,  like  the  unfor- 
tunate effort  itself,  is  apt  to  die  soon ;  but  if  for  any  reason 
worth  considering  a  composition  takes  a  strong  hold  on  the 
public,  tho  only  temporarily,  it  is  assured  a  certain  importance 
in  literary  history;  and  if  a  work  may  be  rightly  judged  a 
classic,  younger  critics  "vntlU  constantly  arise,  inspired  to  discuss 
it  from  different  points  of  view.  A  type  of  poetry,  difficult  in 
form,  infrequent  of  occurrence,  and  seldom  successful  as  litera- 
ture, naturally  excites  scant  comment,  and  that  rarely  of  a 
kind  to  beget  new  critical  effort. 

Many  poets,  among  them  the  greatest  and  the  least,  have 
written  pastorals.  It  requires  no  especial  courage  to  take  up 
the  oaten  reed.  The  poet  has  little  to  lose  by  failure;  if  he 
succeed,  he  knows  that  the  world  will  listen  in  spite  of  itself. 
But  no  great  poet  since  Vergil  has  written  a  georgic,  and 
comparatively  few  of  the  minor  poets  have  attempted  the  task. 
Burns,  who,  as  far  as  practical  experience  goes,  was  best  fitted 
to  appreciate  a  georgic,  or  to  attempt  to  write  one,  declares 
upon  reading  "  Dryden's  Virgil  "  that  he  considers  the  Georgics 
"  by  far  the  best  of  Virgil,"  and  that  "  this  species  of  writing  " 
has  filled  him  with  "  a  thousand  fancies  of  emulation."  ^^  But 
when  he  compared  his  powers  with  Vergil's,  his  courage  failed. 
Robert  Anderson  ^^  expresses  the  opinion  that  to  write  a  truly 

"Letter  to  Mrs.  Dunlop,  May  4,  1778. 

"  British  Poets,  Vol.  xi.     Preface  to  Dodsley's  "  Agriculture." 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  27 

excellent  georgic  is  one  of  the  gTeatest  efforts  of  the  human 
mind.  And  the  frequent  attacks  upon  didactic  poetry  in  gen- 
eral, upon  georgic  poetry  in  particular,  indeed  the  occasional 
defenses  of  the  georgic,  emphasize  the  fact,  that,  to  attempt 
this  form  of  writing,  one  must  have  the  courage  that  leads  to 
an  undertaking  which  promises  almost  certain  defeat. 

In  the  period  immediately  following  Vergil,  the  pastoral  as 
a  genre  had  apparently  lost  popular  favor.  Earlier  than 
Calpurnius  ^"^  there  appear  to  have  been  no  imitators  of 
either  Theocritus  or  Vergil  whose  work  survived. ^^  Of  the 
writers  following  Calpurnius,  only  Nemesianus  is  named  as 
worthy  of  any  regard.  Boccaccio,  however,  in  a  summary  of 
the  history  of  pastoral  verse,  includes  both  Calpurnius  and 
iSTemesianus  in  his  contemptuous  utterances  concerning  pastoral 
writers.  He  names  '  the  Syracusan  Theocritus '  and  '  Vergil, 
who  wrote  in  Latin,'  then  adds:  "  Post  hunc  autem  scripserunt 
et  alii,  sed  ignobiles,  de  quibus  nil  curandum  est,  excepto  inclyto 
Praeceptore  meo  Francisco  Petrarca  ".^^ 

Of  the  stream  of  pastoral  poetry  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
Greg  observes  ~'^  that  "  though  it  nowhere  actually  disappears,  it 
is  reduced  to  the  merest  trickle."  From  the  fourth  to  the  tenth 
century,  isolated  examples  occur  that  served  to  preserve  the 
classical  memor}-  of  the  pastoral,  reworked,  however,  with  new 
meanings  and  new  associations  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

With  the  fourteenth  century,  a  new  and  brilliant  epoch  be- 
gins in  the  history  of  the  pastoral.  In  the  sixteenth  century, 
Spenser  found  the  genre  ''  a  literary  mode  that  beyond  all 
others  lent  itself  to  the  expression  of  his  complex  emotions."  -^ 

"  Calpurnius'  dates  are  imeertain.  He  is  sometimes  supposed  to  have 
lived  at  the  end  of  the  third  century.  For  a  clear  discussion  of  the  subject, 
cp.  C.  H.  Keene,  The  Eclogues  of  Calpurnius  and  Nemesianus,  London,  1887. 

'*  Cp.  Conington  on  "  The  Later  Bucolic  Poets  of  Rome,"  op.  cit.,  Vol. 
I,  p.  114. 

^  Lettere  di  G.  Boccaccio,  ed.  Corrazini,  p.  267.  See  Walter  W.  Greg, 
Pastoral  Poetry  and  Pastoral  Drama,  London,  1906,  p.   18. 

""  Op.  cit.,  p.  18.  ^  Herford,  op.  cit.     Introd.,  p.  xxvi. 


28  The  Oeorgic 

E.  K.  counts  among  Spenser's  predecessors,  Theocritus,  Ver- 
gil, Mantuan,  Boccaccio,  Marot,  Sannazaro,  "  and  also  divers 
other  excellent  both  Italian  and  French  poets,  whose  footing 
this  author  every  where  followeth."  Spenser  was  the  chief 
British  influence  in  the  popularizing  of  the  conventional  pas- 
toral ;  but  the  form  occurs  in  British  verse  as  early  as  the 
fifteenth  century,  in  Henryson's  Robin  and  Makene;  and  be- 
fore that  the  shepherd  stories  of  the  Bible  had  been  made  fa- 
miliar to  English  audiences  in  the  vernacular  drama,  and  in 
the  liturgical  plays  of  the  Nativity.  From  Spenser's  time  on, 
the  pastoral  is  found  in  England,  as  on  the  continent,  in  more 
or  less  closely  related  groups,  and  in  varying  types  of  varying 
worth. 

The  georgic,  a  type  of  poetry  that  except  in  some  of  its 
eighteenth-century  developments  cannot  be  said  ever  to  have 
made  a  truly  popular  appeal,  is  in  its  recurrences  compara- 
tively rarei.  While  Vergil  was  yet  living,  parts  of  his  Georgics 
appear  to  have  been  parodied."^  Gratius,  who  was  contempo- 
rary with  Vergil,  wrote  a  treatise  on  hunting,  evidently  imi- 
tating the  model  of  the  Georgics.  In  the  first  century  after 
Christ,  Columella  felt  it  a  sacred  duty  to  develop  Vergil's  sketch 
of  gardens,  Georg.  iv.  116-148.  In  the  second  century,  Op- 
pian  of  Cilicia  wrote  his  so-called  golden  verses  on  the  "  Fisher- 
man's Art,"  the  Halieutica,  and  somewhat  later  another  Op- 
pian  (of  Apamea)  wrote  a  poetic  treatise  on  hunting,  five 
books  of  which  are  extant.  In  the  third  century,  ISTemesianus 
composed  a  poem  on  hunting,  more  like  the  treatise  of  Gratius 
than  that  of  Oppian  of  Apamea.  In  the  fourth  century,  Pal- 
ladius,  imitating  Columella,  wrote  in  elegiac  verse,  on  the 
cultivation  of  trees  (Bk.  xiv  of  his  Husbandry).  How  much 
poetry  in  imitation  of  the  Vergilian  didactics  may  have  seen 
the  light  from  the  fourth  to  the  thirteenth  century,  only  to  be 
buried  sooner  or  later  in  obscurity,  I  cannot  say.  I  know  of 
nothing  in  the  nature  of  a  georgic  during  this  period,  except 

^  Cp.  Addison :  Essay  on  the  Georgics. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  29 

the  poem  that  Biese  -^  calls  "  the  much-read  Hortiilus,"  Walali- 
frid  Strabo's  De  Cultura  Hortorum,  "  an  idyll  of  the  cloister 
garden,"  written  about  820. 

In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  there  occur  in 
France  a  number  of  treatises  in  verse  on  the  Jioble  arts  of  hunt- 
ing and  hawking ;  ^^  and  a  poetical  treatise  on  fishing,  entitled 
De  Vetula,  is  said  to  have  been  written  by  Richard  de  Foumi- 
val  at  this  period."^  In  the  fourteenth  century,  in  Italy, 
Paganino  Bonafede  wrote  some  verse  precepts  on  agriculture, 
entitled  II  Tesoro  del  Rustici;  ^*  but  no  one  seems  to  have  con- 
sidered the  effort  worth  publication.  In  the  fifteenth  century, 
very  little  is  found ;  Halliwell  and  Vf right  ^'^  print  a  Fragment 
of  a  Poem  on  Falconry,  written  in  French  at  the  beginning  of 
the  period.  Dame  Juliana  Berner's  verse  treatise  on  "  Ve- 
nerie  "  made  part  of  the  famous  Bol-e  of  St.  Alhan's,  which 
appeared  in  1486.  To  the  year  1420,  is  referred  the  curious 
old  English  poem  by  Piers  of  Fulham,  entitled  "  Vayne  con- 
seytes  of  folysche  love  undyr  colour  of  fyscheng  and  fowl- 
yng,"  ^^  a  composition  less  interesting  as  an  attempt  at  an  alle- 
gory than  for  its  information  concerning  fish  and  fowl.  Some- 
time in  the  period  following  Chaucer,  an  unknown  English 
writer  put  the  treatise  of  Palladius  on  Husbandry  into  Chau- 
cerian stanzas,  with  original  prologiies  and  epilogues,  and  occa- 
sional moralizations  of  his  own ;  and  one  original  English  pro- 

^'A.  Biese,  The  Development  of  the  Feeling  for  Nature  in  the  Middle 
Ages  and  Modern  Times,  translated  from  the  German.     London,  1905,  p.  61. 

^*  Cp.  E.  Jullien,  La  Chasse.  Son  Histoire  et  sa  Legislation.  Paris. 
Aubertin,  Hist,  de  la  Langue  et  de  la  Litt.  Francaises  au  Moyen  Age 
d'apres  les  Tra/vaux  les  plus  recents.     Paris,  1S78,  T.  ii,  pp.  64  ff. 

'^  See  "  The  Angler's  Library,"  The  Edinburgh  Review,  Vol.  158,  1883, 
p.  160.  The  writer  states  that  the  De  Vetula  was  formerly  attributed  to 
Ovid.     I  have  been  unable  to  identify  E.  de  Fournival. 

^  Cp.  Tiraboschi,  op.  cit.,  T.  V,  ii,  864. 

"  T.  Wright  and  J.  0.  Halliwell,  Reliquae  Antiquae,  London,  1841.  Vol. 
r,  p.  310. 

^^  Reprinted  by  W.  C.  Hazlitt,  in  Remains  of  the  Early  Popular  poetry  of 
England,  Vol.  n.  London,  1866.  For  the  date  of  the  poem,  see  J.  J.  Man- 
ley,  "  Literature  of  Sea  and  River  Fishing,"  Internat.  Fisheries  Exhibi- 
tion, 1833,  The  Fisheries  Exhibition  Literature,  Vol.  iir,  p.  563. 


30  The  Georgic 

diiction,  georgic  tho  not  Yergilian,  belongs  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  a  treatise  in  verse  by  "  Mayster  John  Gardener  "  en- 
titled the  Feate  of  Gardening.^^  In  Italy,  Poliziano's  Eusticus 
appeared  in  1483,  a  Latin  poem  still  highly  praised,  which 
Dnnlop  ^^  describes  as  "  an  abridgement  of  the  Georgics."  Be- 
fore 1500,  Gioviano  Pontano  imitated  certain  features  of  the 
Georgics  in  his  Urania,  and  in  his  didactic  poem  Meteora;  and 
he  produced  a  true  Vergilian  georgic  in  the  De  Hortis  Hesper- 
idum. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  pastoral  is  a  favorite  type  of 
poetry  in  Italy  and  France.  With  the  publication  of  the  Shep- 
heards  Calendar  the  genre  in  England  enters  upon  a  golden 
age.  Until  the  end  of  the  century  the  pastoral  holds  its  vogue. 
Critics  may  scorn  the  type  as  they  will,  but  they  cannot  disre- 
gard the  instrument  that  Spenser  aud  Ben  Jonson  and  Shake- 
speare saw  fit  to  adapt  to  their  needs.  The  pastoral  conven- 
tions lend  themselves  readily  to  affectations  and  artificialities, 
but  they  are  forms  in  which  the  poet  may  express  lyric  joy  and 
sorrow,  romantic  emotion,  dramatic  passion.  The  georgic,  pri- 
marily didactic,  purporting  to  treat  of  practical  arts,  offered 
little  appeal  to  an  age  in  which  life  seemed  a  great  adventure. 
Representative  Elizabethans  seem  to  have  found  no  possibili- 
ties in  the  Vergilian  type  of  didactic  poetry.  So  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  discover,  Thomas  Tusser  and  Thomas  Moffat  are 
the  only  sixteenth-century  Englishmen  who  regarded  georgic 
precepts  as  matter  fit  for  verse.  In  1557,  appeared  Tusser's 
Hundreth  Pointes  of  Goode  Husbandry,  later  augmented  to 
Five  Hundred  Pointes,  a  "  profitable,  and  not  unpleasant  " 
georgic,  which,  however,  owes  nothing  to  the  Vergilian  conven- 
tions. Moffat's  poem  was  not  printed  until  1599.  Collier  ^^ 
quotes  the  title  page  as  follows,  "  The  Silkewormes  and  Their 
Elies:    Lively  descril)ed  in  verse  by  T.  M.  a  Countrie  Farmar, 

^^  Archaeologia,  London,  1894. 
^  Op.  cit.,  p.  138. 

^J.  P.  Collier,  A  Bibliographical  Account  of  the  Rarest  Books  in  the 
English  Language.    London,  1865,  Vol.  i,'  p.  530. 


The  Belation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  31 

and  an  apprentice  in  Physicke.  For  the  great  benefit  and  en- 
riching of  England.  Printed  at  London  by  V.  S.  for  Nicholas 
Ling,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  at  the  West  End  of  Paules. 
1599.  4:to.,  41  leaves.^'  Collier  informs  the  reader  that  near 
the  close  of  the  first  book,  the  poet  mentions  having  been  in 
Italy,  adding  in  a  marginal  note  that  this  was  twenty  years 
before  he  published  his  poem.  Moffat's  Italian  visit  is  a  simple 
explanation  of  this  late  sixteenth-century  English  georgic.  The 
art  of  raising  silkworms  is  among  the  favorite  themes  of 
Italian  didactic  poets,  particularly  in  the  sixteenth  century.^- 

In  France  during  this  period  a  few  treatises  on  hunting  are 
found.^^  From  Jullien's  account  they  appear  to  be  written 
more  or  less  according  to  the  model  of  the  georgic.  Among 
them  is  Claude  Gauchet's  Plaisir  des  Champs,  an  interesting 
poem  in  which  pastoral  love  songs,  descriptions  of  the  chase, 
and  georgic  eclogues  are  mingled  at  the  poet's  fancy. 

In  Italy,  during  the  sixteenth  century,  so  great  was  the  ven- 
eration for  the  classics,  that  not  only  was  the  pastoral  a  favorite 
fashion,  but  the  georgic  too,  for  the  first  time  in  its  history, 
received  notable  appreciation  as  a  genre.  The  georgic  themes, 
and  the  georgic  plan  are  adapted  to  many  subjects  treated  both 
in  Latin  and  in  Italian  verse:  didactics  on  general  agriculture, 
as  Luigi  Alamanni's  Coltivazione  and  Tansillo's  Podere;  on 
special  branches  of  farming,  as  Pierio  Valeriano's  De  Milacis 
Cultura,  and  the  poems  of  Giustolo  da  Spoleto,  Vida,  and  Te- 
sauro  on  silkworms ;  on  rural  sports,  as  Valvasone's  Caccia;  on 
seafaring,  as  Baldi's  Nautica.  In  Tansillo's  Balia  noble  ladies 
are  exhorted  to  nurse  their  own  children,  and  the  same  writer's 
Vendemmiatore,  characterized  by  Greg  ^'*  as  "  one  of  those  ob- 
scene debauches  of  fancy  which  throw  a  lurid  light  on  the  lux- 
urious imagination  of  the  age,"  may  be  considered  as  a  bur- 
lesque of  a  noble  georgic  theme. 

*•  Cp.  the  following  list:  Lodovico  Lazzarelli,  II  Bombyx,  1493;  P.  Gius- 
tolo da  Spoleto,  De  Sere,  1510;  Girolamo  Vida,  Bombyces,  1527;  Alessandro 
Tesauro,  La  Screide,  1585;  Zaccaria  Betti,  //  Baco  da  Seta,  1756. 

"  See  Jullien,  op.  cit.,  ch.  x  and  xi.  **  Op.  cit.,  p.  32. 


32  The  Georgia 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  the  golden  age  of  pastoral  is 
ended;  nevertheless,  the  genre  persists,  chiefly  in  the  forms  of 
the  lyric  and  of  the  drama.  John  Donne  and  Herrick  are 
found  among  English  writers  of  pastoral  lyrics ;  Milton  reaches 
the  ''  high  water  mark  of  poetry  ''  in  Lycidas,  and  immortalizes 
the  pastoral  masque  in  Comius.  The  period  furnishes  little 
material  for  the  history  of  the  georgic.  I  know  of  nothing  of 
the  type  in  Italy,  except  J^icolo  Partenio  Giannettasio's  Ha- 
lieutica,  a  work  that  I  have  been  unable  to  see.  In  1613,  John 
Dennys'  Secrets  of  Angling,  a  poem  based  manifestly,  if  ]iot 
professedly,  on  the  model  of  the  Yergilian  didactics,  was  pub- 
lished at  London.^^  In  1665,  Rene  Rapin's  Horti  was  pub- 
lished at  Paris.  Dennys'  Secrets  probably  set  other  English 
writers  scribbling  verses  on  the  gentle  craft. ^^  Rapin's  Horti 
may  have  incited  Richard  Richardson  to  write  a  Carmen  de 
Cultu  Hortorum,  published  at  London,  1669.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  if  the  seventeenth  century  begot  many  other  georgics,  they 
have  either  perished  or  become  lost  in  obscurity.  One  must 
look  to  the  eighteenth  century  for  the  culmination  of  the  type. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  great  deal  is 
heard  about  the  pastoral.  English  critics,  influenced  by  the 
French  views  of  Fontenelle  and  Rapin  ^"^  are  pleased  to  dis- 
course upon  the  true  nature  of  pastoral  poetry;  English  poets 
continue  to  write  pastorals.  The  story  of  the  Philips-Pope 
controversy  is  not  a  highly  edifying  chapter  in  the  history  of 
English  literature,  but  because  of  it  John  Gay  wrote  the  Shep- 
herd's Weeh.  The  pastorals  of  Pope  and  Philips  are  artificial 
specimens  of  the  genre;  and  it  is  generally  agreed  that  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  type  is  brought  to  be  a  thing  of  scorn. 

^  The  date  of  composition  of  this  poem  is  uncertain.  John  Dennys  died 
in  1609. 

^  See,  for  example,  Thomas  Barker,  Barker's  Delight :  or  the  Art  of 
Angling,  1657 ;  S.  Ford,  Pisratio,  or  Angling,  a  poem  written  originally  in 
Latin,  1692,  translated  by  Tipping  Sylvester,  1732;  The  Innocent  Epi- 
cure, or  The  Art  of  Angling,  A  Poem  (attributed  to  Nahum  Tate),  Lon- 
don, 1697. 

"  Cp.  Greg.     Op.  cit.,  p.  415. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  33 

Yet,  even  among  eighteenth-century  pastorals  there  are  found 
compositions  of  undeniable  charm;  in  the  Sheplierd's  Weeh^ 
Gay  proved  himself  truly  a  poet;  Shenstone  has  nowhere  so 
light  and  delicate  a  touch  as  in  his  Pastoral  Ballad;  and  Allan 
Eamsay's  Gentle  Shepherd  can  still  be  read  with  delight. 

In  1697,  Addison  made  his  complaint  about  the  critics'  ne- 
glect of  Vergil's  Georgics.^^  Up  to  that  time,  unless  Moffat's 
Silhwormes  be  excepted,  no  true  English  georgic  of  the  Ver- 
gilian  type  seems  to  have  appeared.  John  Gardener's  verses 
are  rudely  made  precepts ;  Tussers's  Husbandry  though  less  rude 
is  no  more  Vergilian  than  John  Gardener's  effort.  John  Den- 
nys  wrote  not  of  husbandry,  but  of  angling,^^  and  Dennys  is 
not  concerned  with  the  pursuit  of  the  sport  as  a  means  of  sup- 
plying the  larder,  but  rather  with  the  exercise  of  gentlemanly 
virtues  and  gentlemanly  skill.  Dennys'  seventeenth-century 
followers  probably  wrote  in  much  the  same  vein.  John  Barker, 
to  be  sure,  gives  recipes  in  verse  for  the  cooking  of  fish,  but 
altho  his  verses  are  a  shade  more  skilfuU  than  those  of  John 
Gardener,  his  worst  enemy  could  hardly  have  accused  him  of 
having  tried  to  imitate  Vergil. 

In  1700,  there  is  found  an  angling  poem,  entitled  The  Gentle 
Recreation^  or  the  Pleasures  of  Angling,  a  slight  work,  written 
rather  pleasantly,  by  John  Whitney,  "  a  Lover  of  the  Angle," 
and,  from  the  testimony  of  his  verses,  a  lover  of  Vergil.  In 
1706,  appeared  the  first  English  poem  of  any  importance,  in 
which  a  true  georgic  theme  is  treated  in  the  manner  and  spirit 
of  Vergil's  Georgics,  John  Philips'  Cyder.  The  influence  of 
this  didactic  on  English  poetry  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
considerable.  !N"o  one  has  ever  suggested  that  it  had  any  in- 
fluence on  French  and  Italian  poetry.     Perry,^°  however,  states 

^  Cp.  above,  p.  1. 

''  It  is  interesting  to  note,  however,  that  in  the  Epitome  of  the  Art  of 
Husbandry,  by  I.  B.  Gent,  London,  1669,  there  are  "  brief  Experimental 
Directions  for  the  right  use  of  the  Angle."  See  W.  B.  Daniel,  Rural  Sports, 
London,  1812.     Supplement,  p.  16. 

*"  T.  S.  Perry,  English  Literature  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  N.  Y., 
Harper  and  Brothers,  1883,  p.  139. 

3 


34  The  Georgic 

that  Cyder  was  much  admired  in  Italy,  and  that  it  was  trans- 
lated into  Italian.  In  1749,  the  Abbe  Yart  translated  Philips' 
georgic  into  French.  Whether  or  not  it  had  been  put  into 
French  before  then,  I  am  not  able  to  say. 

It  is  hazardous  to  suggest  that  Italian  interest  in  georgic 
poetry  needed  to  be  revived  thru  England's  example.  Yet  the 
fashion  of  the  georgic  seems  to  have  sprung  into  European  favor 
along  with  the  Anglomania  manifested  in  the  passion  for 
English  gardens.  In  Italy,  as  in  France,  I  know  of  nothing  in 
the  nature  of  an  eighteenth-century  Vergilian  didactic,  previous 
to  the  publication  of  Thomson's  Seasons  in  1Y44.  Philips'  geor- 
gic may  or  may  not  have  aroused  interest  in  a  type  of  poetry 
never  before  held  in  much  favor  by  the  French,  and,  apparently, 
neglected  by  the  Italians  for  more  than  a  hundred  years.  There 
is  no  doubt,  however,  of  the  great  influence  of  Thomson  on 
European  poetry  in  general.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Seaso7is 
were  read,  translated  and  imitated  by  almost  all  the  civilized 
nations  of  Europe.  Thomson  has  been  called  "  the  father  of 
the  landscape  garden;"  certainly  he  made  nature  poetry  a 
literary  fashion.  Suddenly,  thru  him,  the  world-old  course  of 
the  months  and  the  seasons  seemed  to  reveal  to  the  poets  sen- 
sations as  enchantingly  new  as  the  emotions  of  love.  The  hus- 
bandman's life  was  to  be  sung  once  more  as  the  ideal  existence. 
Saint  Lambert  ^^  writes  thus:  "La  poesie  champetre  s'est  en- 
richie  dans  ce  siecle  d'un  genre  qui  a  ete  inconnu  aux  anciennes. 
....  Les  Anglois  et  les  Allemands  out  cree  le  genre  de  la 
poesie  descriptive;  les  anciens  aimoient  et  chantoient  la  cam- 
pagne,  nous  admirons  et  nous  chantons  la  nature."  Further 
on  in  his  preliminary  discourse,  the  poet  speaks  of  his  Saisons 
as  georgics  made  for  those  who  possess  the  fields,  not  for  those 
who  cultivate  them.  Other  poets,  imitating  the  Vergilian 
model,  as  Thomson  adapts  it  to  his  use  in  the  Seasons,  give 
their  efforts  the  sub-title  "  georgiques  fran^aises."  ^- 

•"  Op.  cit.,  p.  XV. 

"  See,  for  example,  J.  Delille,  L'Eomme  des  Champs,  ou  Les  Oeorgiques 
Francoises,  cp.  above,  p.  F.  J.  de  Bernis,  Les  Quatre  Saisons,  ou  Les  Georgi- 
ques Fran^coises,  first  published,  Paris,  1763). 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  35 

To  the  influence  of  both  Philips  and  Thomson  the  long  list 
of  eighteenth-century  English  imitations  of  the  Georgics  must 
be  ascribed.  Philips  and  Thomson  were  wise  enough,  or  for- 
tunate enough,  to  choose  a  model  that  appealed  strongly  to  Eng- 
lish poets  of  their  day.  N^aturally,  in  a  neo-classic  age,  Vergil 
was  reverenced  as  a  classic  writer.  A  great  poet,  he  had  loved 
the  outdoor  world,  and  he  had  read  into  the  heart  of  Nature. 
]\rore  than  this,  he  had  prayed  the  Muses  to  reveal  to  him  the 
causes  of  things,  and  he  had  w^oven  into  his  didactics  something 
of  the  philosophic  and  scientific  beliefs  of  the  ancients.  As  a 
model,  he  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  new  school  of  poets,  who 
yearned  to  sing  in  praise  of  country  life;  and  he  made  an 
equally  strong  appeal  to  the  eighteenth-century  taste  that  de- 
lighted in  attempts  to  poetize  science  and  philosophy.  Much 
of  Vergil's  teaching  found  s\Tnpathetic  response  in  the  eigh- 
teenth-century mind.  His  plan  furnished  opportunity  for 
moralizing  and  philosophizing,  and  it  offered  the  advantage  of 
the  introduction  of  narrative  episodes.  Thomson  modified  Ver- 
gil's plan  at  his  pleasure.  Other  poets  who  imitated  Thomson 
attempted  also  to  imitate  the  Georgics  in  all  their  features. 
Thruout  the  century,  georgics  of  various  kinds  are  found.  In 
Prance,  one  finds  a  comparatively  long  list  of  eighteenth-century 
didactics  of  the  Vergilian  type.  In  Italy,  not  only  is  the  genre 
revived  in  a  long  series  of  new  attempts,  but  sixteenth-century 
Italian  georgics  are  brought  into  the  light,  read  and  reread  as 
masterpieces  of  Italian  genius.  In  England  and  Prance,  as 
well  as  in  Italy,  it  becomes  the  fashion  not  only  to  imitate 
Vergil,  but  to  imitate  old  and  new  imitations  of  Vergil.  Early 
Vergilian  didactics  appear  in  reprints  and  translations.^^  Al- 
most every  variety  of  the  georgic  occurs,  from  treatises  on  gen- 
eral farm  life  like  Vaniere's  Praedhim  Rusticum  and  Dodsley's 

*'  One  finds,  for  example,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  French,  English  and 
Italian  translations  of  Oppian's  Cynegetica;  English  and  Italian  transla- 
tions of  Oppian's  Halieutica.  From  1716  to  1781,  Alamanni's  Coltivazione 
was  printed  twenty  times;  Tansillo's  Podere  and  La  Balia  were  printed  for 
the  first  time  in  1769,  and  La  Balia  was  translated  into  English  in  1798  as 
The  Nnrse,  by  William  Roscommon. 


36  The  Georgic 

Agriculture  to  burlesques  like  Gay's  Trivia,  in  wHcli  the  Ver- 
gilian  conventions  are  used  in  a  poem  treating  of  the  art  of 
walking  London  streets.  The  eighteenth-century  vogue  of  the 
Vergilian  type  of  didactic  poetry  is  among  the  most  interest- 
ing phenomena  of  an  age  pre-eminently  interesting  in  the  his- 
tory of  literary  developments. 

The  pastoral,  as  has  been  seen,  played  a  not  unimportant 
part  in  the  literary  history  of  the  early  eighteenth  century.  In 
the  nineteenth  century,  it  remained  for  Shelley  and  Matthew 
Arnold  to  stir  the  world  with  the  supreme  beauty  of  their 
pastoral  laments.  True  to  classic  traditions,  Tennyson's 
Oenone  wails  in  bitterness  the  unfaith  of  her  royal  shepherd. 
The  English  Idyls  are  reminiscent  of  the  Syracusan  poet.  Pro- 
fessor Mustard  thinks  that  '  the  very  title  of  these  poems  is 
meant  to  suggest  their  close  relationship  to  the  Idyls  of  The- 
ocritus '.^^  The  traditions  of  the  ages  are  not  easily  over- 
thrown. Even  in  the  twentieth  century,  pastorals  may  still  be 
found,  poems  of  modern  life,  in  a  setting  of  rural  beauty  and 
outward  peace,  eternally  old;  but  these  poems  fall  under  the 
broad  definition  of  the  pastoral,  the  conventional  type  seems 
at  last  to  have  become  a  dead  fashion. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  georgic  type 
still  persists,  examples  occurring  in  French,  in  English,  and 
in  Italian.^^  T.  Deyeux's  Chassomdnie,  a  didactic  on  the 
chase,  appeared  as  late  as  1844.  However,  even  to  scholars, 
most  of  these  productions  are  generally  unknown,  and  unless 
Deyeux's  curious  poem  be  excepted,  it  may  be  said  that  after 

**  W.  P.  Mustard  in  The  Classical  Weekly,  viii,  166.  For  a  complete  dis- 
cussion of  the  relation  of  Tennyson  to  Theocritus,  see  W.  P.  Mustard, 
Classical  Echoes  in  Tennyson,  N.  Y.,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1904,  ch.  iii. 

*"  Among  these  specimens  may  be  mentioned  Delille's  Homme  des  Champs, 
1800;  J.  E.  Esmenard's  Navigation,  1804;  an  anonymous  poem  on  Fowling, 
1808;  James  Grahame's  British  Georgics,  1809;  Thomas  Pike  Lathy's  bold 
fraud,  The  Anglers,  1819;  Mazzoni,  op.  cit.,  p.  78,  names  a  list  of  Italian 
didactics,  presumably  of  the  Vergilian  type,  sucli  as  C.  Arici's  La  coltiva- 
zione  degli  ulivi,  1805;  Lorenzo  Crico's  La  coltivazione  del  grano-turco, 
1812. 


The  Eelation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  37 

the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  genre  seems  to 
have  passed  completely  out  of  existence.  The  fate  of  the  Ver- 
gilian  didactic  appears  to  be  sealed,  imtil  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury at  least  two  remarkable  developments  of  the  type  are 
found  in  the  Frimi  Foemetti  of  Giovanni  Pascoli,^^  and  in  Les 
Georgiques  chretiennes  of  Francis  Jammes ;  *'^  Pascoli's  Foem- 
etti, idylls  of  country  life  that  Miss  Euth  Shepherd  ^^  calls  "  a 
kind  of  modern  Italian  georgics,  dealing  under  the  same  skies 
and  against  the  same  landscapes  with  the  descendants  of  those 
who  ploughed  or  kept  bees  in  the  Vergilian  poems;"  Jamimes' 
Georgiques  chretiennes,  religious  idylls  of  the  French  hus- 
bandman, poems  that  Miss  Amy  Lowell  describes  as  "  a  whole 
book  dealing  with  the  agricultural  labors  of  a  year  ".^^ 

3.    Variations  in  the  development  of  the  Georgic  compared 
with  variations  in  the  development  of  the  Eclogue. 

The  conventional  pastoral  occurs  chiefly  in  the  forms  of  the 
eclogue,  the  lyric,  the  pastoral  romance,  and  the  pastoral  drama. 
The  eclogue  is,  in  itself,  inherently  lyric,  and  dramatic ;  and  in 
it  is  found  also  the  germ  of  romance.  The  evolution  of  the  type 
comes  about  naturally,  since  evolution  is  the  nature  of  living 
things. 

It  has  been  seen  that  even  in  the  hands  of  Vergil  the  pas- 
toral as  a  literary  form  shows  development,  for  in  Eclogue  IV 
Vergil  professedly  uses  the  panegyric  in  a  rural  song,^^  and 
continually  in  his  "  carmina  pastorum,"  he  veils  an  undercur- 
rent of  allusion,  personal  and  political.  From  time  to  time, 
later  writers  continue  to   adapt  the  old  conventions  to  new 

^  Bologna,  Ditta  Nicola  Zanichelli,  1907. 
*' Paris,  Mercure  de  France,  1914. 

^  See  Miss   Shepherd's   article,   ''  Giovanni   Pascoli,"   in   the  North  Am. 
Rev.,  July,  1916. 

**Amy  Lowell,  Six  French  Poets,  N.  Y.,  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 
"*  Sicelides  Musae,  paulo  maiora  canamus! 

Non  omnes  arbusta  iuvant  hiimilesque  myricae; 
Si  canimus  silvas,  silvae  sint  consule  dignae. 


38  The  Georgic 

themes.  As  early  as  Calpiirnius,  a  poem  is  found  in  wliieh 
georgic  subject  matter  is  used  in  tlie  eclogue  form.  Mycon, 
an  older  shepherd  in  Calpurnius'  fifth  Eclogue  instructs  his 
pupil,  Canthus,  concerning  the  management  of  sheep  and  goats. 
Eclogues  1,  IV  and  part  of  Eclogue  VII  are  in  praise  of  the 
Emperor.  They  are  written  in  strains  of  adulation  that  sug- 
gest Vergil's  address  to  Augustus  in  the  first  Georgic;  but  the 
theme  of  panegyric,  as  has  been  observed,  is  not  new  in  the 
eclogue,  and  belongs  equally  to  the  conventions  of  the  pastoral 
and  of  the  georgic.  In  Eclogue  VII,  however,  a  new  theme 
occurs.  A  shepherd,  just  returned  from  the  town,  recounts  his 
experiences  for  the  benefit  of  an  untravelled  friend.  He  con- 
trasts the  life  of  the  town  with  that  of  the  country,  a  subject 
treated  frequently,  and  with  many  variations,  by  later  writers 
of  the  eclogue. 

In  the  middle  ages,  dating  from  the  end  of  the  fourth  or  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  the  old  forms  are  adapted  to 
Christian  themes.  The  eclogue  is  used  to  celebrate  the  praises 
of  the  i"  saint  cross,"  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  Bible  stories, 
victorious  over  the  falsehood  of  pagan  myths,  to  voice  allegori- 
cal religious  laments,  and  to  give  honor  to  the  saints. ^^ 

In  the  fourteenth  century,  Petrarch  discovered  the  value  of 
the  pastoral  machinery  as  a  vehicle  for  veiled  satire.  Boccaccio 
uses  the  traditional  pastoral  material  in  the  making  of  the  first 
•modern  pastoral  romance.^-  Mantuan  uses  it  for  direct  satire, 
introducing  the  diatribe  against  woman,  the  contrast  between 
town  and  city  dwellers,  the  denunciation  of  clerical  evils,  the 
contrast  between  a  virtuous  past  and  a  corrupt  present.^^  San- 
nazaro,  presumably  imitating  Idyll  XXI  of  Theocritus,  set  a 

^^  Cp.  Greg,  op.  cit.,  p.  19 ;  W.  P.  Mustard,  "  On  the  Pastoral  Ancient  and 
Modern,"  The  Classical  Weekly,  March  27,  1915,  p.  162. 

™  Sometime  between  the  second  and  the  sixth  century,  a  Greek,  called 
Longus,  wrote  the  pastoral  romance  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe.  Greg  thinks 
that  this  work  played  no  part  in  the  evolution  of  the  earliest  modern  shep- 
herd romances. 

^  This  and  the  contrast  between  town  and  city  dwellers  are  also  favorite 
georgic  themes. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  39 

new  fashion  in  the  piscatory  eclogue,  in  which  he  makes  the 
speakers  fishermen,  instead  of  shepherds,  the  setting  "  pisca- 
tory," instead  of  pastoral. 

In  the  Comedia  nuova  pastorale  of  Giambattista  Casalio  of 
Faenza,  a  composition  placed  somewhat  before  1538,  Greg  ^^ 
recognizes  "  what  may  almost  be  regarded  as  the  first  conscious 
attempt  to  write  a  pastoral  play."  There  seems,  however,  to 
be  no  adequate  treatment  of  the  evolution  of  the  pastoral 
drama.  Greg's  view  is  that  "  the  theatrical  tendency  first  ex- 
hibited itself  in  the  mere  recitation  of  a  dialogue  in  character," 
the  earliest  example  of  these  so-called  ecloghe  rappresentative 
being  identical  in  form  with  those  written  merely  for  literary 
circulation.^"  As  early  as  the  tenth  century,  European  audi- 
ences had  become  familiar  with  the  shepherd  figures  of  the 
religious  dramas,  and  later  with  the  shepherds  of  the  medieval 
miracle  plays.^^  However,  it  cannot  be  said  that  these  pastoral 
traditions  had  any  more  influence  on  the  evolution  of  the  mod- 
ern pastoral  drama  than  the  romance  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe  is 
said  to  have  had  on  the  modern  pastoral  romance.  Neverthe- 
less, in  the  cage  of  English  literature  one  can  gTant  that  "  the 
shepherd's  plays  of  the  religious  cycles,  the  popular  ballads, 
and  a  few  of  the  Scots  poets  of  the  time  of  Henryson,  all  alike 
furnish  verse  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  index  of  the  readi- 
ness of  the  popular  mind  to  receive  the  introduction  of  a  formal 
pastoral  tradition."  ^^ 

The  most  striking  minor  variations  in  the  pastoral  are  due, 
presumably,  to  Sannazaro  and  the  vogue  of  his  piscatory 
eclogues.     "  Xautical  "  or  ""  naval  eclogues  "  are  attempted  in 

"  Op.  cit.,  p.  172. 

"*  See  Greg,  "  On  the  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Italian  Pastoral 
Drama,"  op.  cit.,  App.  i,  p.  429. 

"  In  the  Towneley  Secunda  Pastorum,  the  shepherds  appear,  complaining 
like  Spenser's  Cuddie,  of  the  biting  cold.  They  also  enumerate  in  georgic 
fashion  a  list  of  the  evils  of  their  time.  In  the  Chester  Shepherd's  Play,  a 
remarkable  passage  is  introduced,  in  which,  in  the  manner  of  the  georgic, 
the  shepherds  discuss  the  diseases  of  sheep,  and  their  cures. 

"  See  Greg,  op.  cit.  p.  417. 


40  The  Georgic 

which  sailors  speak/^^  "  venatoiy  eclogues,"  songs  of  huntsmen, 
"  vinitory  eclogues,"  songs  of  vine  dressers ;  "  sea  eclogaies," 
songs  of  Tritons  and  mermen ;  and  "  mixed  eclogues,"  in  which 
the  speakers  are  a  fisherman  and  a  shepherd,  or  a  woodman, 
fi.sher,  and  a  swain."  ^^ 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  the  pastoral  formulas  are  bur- 
lesqued in  a  series  of  town  eclogiies,^^  and  further  variations  of 
the  type  are  found  in  Gay's  Quaker  Eclogue,  in  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
School  Eclogue,  and  in  Shenstone's  Colemira,  A  Culinary 
Eclogue. 

The  georgic,  like  the  pastoral,  is  found  in  many  variations. 
Vergil  sings  of  tillage,  of  the  culture  of  trees,  of  cattle,  and  of 
the  "  divine  gift  of  aerial  honey."  The  poet  may  take  his 
choice  of  subject  from  any  special  branch  of  husbandry,  and 
write  a  poem  that  answers  to  the  definition  of  a  georgic  in  the 
narrowest  meaning  of  the  word.  Vergil,  (Georg.  iii^  404-413), 
tells  the  farmer  not  to  neglect  the  care  of  dogs,  useful  for  pro- 
tection against  thieves,  and  valuable  in  the  chase.  He  remarks 
(Georg.  iv,  116-148),  that  he  would  like  to  write  at  greater 
length  of  gardens;  he  infers  (Georg.  i,  456-457),  that  in  the 
face  of  certain  signs  it  will  be  useless  to  advise  him  to  cross  the 
deep ;  Hesiod  before  him,  in  The  Works  and  Days,  had  given 
advice  concerning  sea-faring.  Vergil's  suggestions  seem  to  have 
offered  the  fatal  fascination  of  themes  "  as  yet  unsung," — 
hence  the  long  list  of  forgotten  or  neglected  poems  that  follow 
more  or  less  closely  the  didactic  type  perfected  in  the  Georgic s. 

The  first  important  variation  of  the  type  is  found  in  Gratius' 
adaptation  of  certain  georgic  features  to  the  subject  of  the 
chase,  the  huntsman  instead  of  the  farmer  being  advised  con- 

^  Cp.  Kerlin,  op.  cit.,  p.  66. 

^'  For  the  venatory  variation  cp.  Petri  Lotichii  Seeundi  Solitariensis, 
Poemata  quae  exstant  omnia,  Dresdae,  MDCCLXXIII.  Eel.  i  and  n.  For 
examples  of  the  other  variations,  cp.  The  Piscatory  iJclogues  of  Jacopo 
Sannazaro,  Ed.  W.  P.  Mustard,  Baltimore,  The  Johns  Hopkins  Press,  1914. 
Introd.  pp.  21,  3.3,  42,  43,  48. 

*°  See  Kerlin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  59  flf. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  41 

cerning  the  implements  and  methods  of  his  art.  Corresponding 
to  the  venatorj  eclogue  there  occurs  the  "  cynegetic/'  which  may 
be  styled  a  venatory  georgic.  Annibale  Cruceio's  Alcon,^^ 
iisually  attributed  to  Fracastoro,  is  an  imitation  of  Calpurnius' 
Mycon  that  illustrates  the  crossing  of  the  types  of  the  venatory 
georgic  and  the  venatory  eclogue.  Alcon,  an  old  huntsman,  in- 
structs a  younger  companion  concerning  the  care  of  hunting 
dogs.  The  work  is  of  especial  interest  in  that  it  shows  how 
closely  the  pastoral  may  be  related  to  the  georgic  in  a  variation 
of  both  types. 

From  the  pursuit  of  creatures  on  the  land  to  the  pursuit  of 
creatures  on  the  deep,  there  is  but  a  step.  Vergil,  (Georg.  i, 
139-142),  declares  that  at  the  end  of  the  Golden  Age  men  had 
begun  to  hunt  and  fish : 

turn  laqueis  captare  feras  et  fallere  visco 
inventum,  et  magnos  canibus  cireumdare  saltus; 
atque  alius  latum  funda  iam  verberat  amnem 
alta  petens,  pelagoque  alius  trahit  umida  lina. 

Oppian  of  Cilicia  was  probably  familiar  with  the  lines.  At  any 
rate,  he  wrote  the  Halieutica,  a  poem  on  deep-sea  fishing  that 
shows  familiarity  vdth  Vergilian  conventions.  Later  poets 
treat  similar  themes,  showing  more  or  less  indebtedness  to  Ver- 
gil, rather  than  to  Oppian.  Corresponding  to  the  piscatory 
variation  of  the  pastoral  there  occurs  the  piscatory  variation  of 
the  georgic.  Hazlitt  ®^  calls  The  Compleat  Angler  "  the  best 
pastoral  in  our  language,"  but  The  Compleat  Angler  may  be 
said  to  be  georgic  as  well  as  pastoral.  John  Whitney's  Dialogue 
between  Piscator  and  Corydon  is  an  eclogue  of  mixed  character, 
in  which  a  fisherman  and  a  shepherd  discuss  their  respective 
pleasures  and  profits,  are  entertained  by  pastoral  songs  celebrat- 
ing country  joys  and  virtues,  and  encourage  each  other  with 
georgic  reflections  and  moralizations. 

"N.  E.  Lemaire,  Poetae  Latini  Minores,  Vol.  i,  p.  171.  For  a  comment 
on  the  authorship  of  the  poem  see  E.  Carrara,  "  La  Poesia  Pastorale," 
Storia  dei  generi  Letterari  Italiani,  Milan,  p.  408. 

^  Op.  cit.     See  above,  p.  19. 


42  The  Georgic 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  Bernardino  Baldi,  inspired  by  the 
characteristic  georgic  desire  to  tread  untrodden  ways,  wrote  La 
Nautica,  in  which  he  uses  the  georgic  conventions  and  the  Ver- 
gilian  plan  in  a  versified  treatise  on  sea-faring,^^  and  thus  pro- 
duced a  naiitical  georgic  corresponding  to  the  nautical  or  naval 
eclogue.  Thomas  Kirchmayer,  like  the  medieval  writers  of 
eclogues,  adapted  georgic  themes  to  Christian  teachings.  In  his 
Agricultura  Sacra,  man,  the  spiritual  husbandman,  is  instructed 
in  the  care  of  the  estate  of  his  soul.^^  Fracastoro,  who  has  fre- 
quently been  compared  to  Vergil,  used  Vergil's  framework  in  a 
poem  entitled  Syphilis,  sive  de  Morho  Galileo.  Tansillo,  inter- 
ested also  in  physical  welfare,  imdertook  to  sermonize  in  verse 
on  the  method  of  rearing  high-born  infants.®^ 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  Rapin,  in  his  Horti,  (Bk.  i^  11) 
suggests  that  some  one  write  a  medicinal  georgic.  Conington  ^*' 
observes  that  before  the  time  of  IsTemesianus,  Serenus  Sammon- 
icus  had  written  1115  hexameters  entitled  De  Medicina  Prae- 
cepta,  but  adds  that  this  work  "  is  not  properly  a  didactic  poem, 
but  merely  a  medical  treatise  in  metre."  In  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, Paola  del  Rosso  wrote  a  didactic  entitled  La  Fisica;  but 
Ginguene  describes  it  as  an  abridgement  of  Aristotle's  book  on 
physics,  severely  written,  without  digressions  or  ornaments. 
]^o  one  seems  to  have  fully  carried  out  Rapin's  suggestion. 
Collier  ®'  describes  briefly  a  work  written  entirely  in  verse  by 
Edmund  Gayton,  The  Art  of  Longevity  or  a  Diaeteticall  Insti- 
tution. The  work  is  in  thirty-three  chapters,  treating  of  the 
wholesomeness  or  unwholesomeness  of  every  kind  of  food ;  as  it 
was  "printed  by  the  Author,"  in  1659,  four  years  after  the 
appearance  of  Rapin's  Horti,  it  may  be  that  Gayton  was  en- 

°*  B.  Baldi,  La  NaiUica  con  Introdvsione  e  note  di  Gaetano  Bowifacio, 
Citta  di  Castello,  1915. 

**  Cp.  C.  H.  Herford,  Studies  in  the  Literary  Relations  of  England  and 
Germany  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,  Cambridge,  18S6,  pp.  121  ff. 

*'  L.  Tansillo,  "  La  Balia,"  L'Egloga  e  i  Poemetti,  con  introduzione  e  note 
di  Francesco  Flamini,  Napoli,  1893. 

*«  Op.  cit.,  p.  400. 

"  Op.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  309-310. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  43 

couraged  in  his  task  by  the  suggestion  of  the  French  writer. 
In  the  eighteenth  century,  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  physician 
and  of  a  poet,  John  Armstrong  wrote  a  treatise  in  blank  verse 
on  The  Art  of  Preserving  Health,  a  variation  of  the  georgic  that 
might  have  satisfied  Rapin,  had  the  English  poet  discoursed 
more  on  the  use  of  medicines. 

Akenside,  whose  interest  centered  primarily  in  the  workings 
of  the  mind,  used  the  model  furnished  by  Horace  in  the  Epis- 
tles and  by  Vergil  in  the  Georgies,  to  write  a  didactic  entitled 
The  Pleasures  of  the  Imagination.  In  his  preface,  Akenside 
states  that  he  has  followed  Horace  and  Vergil  as  models ;  in  his 
poem,  he  illustrates  the  use  of  many  of  the  favorite  georgic  con- 
ventions. In  the  third  book  of  the  first  edition  of  his  poems,  he 
imitates  allegorically  Vergil's  instructions  on  soils.  Writing  of 
the  wonder  of  God's  gifts  to  man,  Akenside  discourses  on  Taste, 
telling  how  the  early  seeds  of  love  and  admiration  are  sown  by 
the  Creator  in  the  minds  of  man,  and  how  constant  culture  is 
necessary  to  rear  these  seeds  to  bloom ;  and  as  Vergil  sang  of 
differences  in  the  character  of  soils,  so  Akenside  sings  of  differ- 
ences in  the  character  of  the  human  mind. 

Gaj'^'s  Trivia,  or  the  Art  of  talking  the  Streets  of  LoTidon, 
published  1716,  and  Soame  Jenyns'  Art  of  Dancing,  published 
1727,  are  interesting  examples  of  the  burlesque  variation  of  the 
georgic.  Both  poems  are  mock  heroics  in  which  georgic  conven- 
tions are  adapted  to  situations  in  city  life.  The  eighteenth  cen- 
tury produced  the  town  georgic  as  it  produced  the  tovni  eclogue. 
Writers  of  the  latter  are  said  to  have  had  a  model  in  Theocritus, 
Idyll  xv.^^  The  very  name  "  town  georgic  "  is  in  itself  striking 
proof  of  the  extent  to  which  the  Vergilian  type  of  didactic 
poetry  may  wander  from  the  scene  of  field-work. 

Falconer's  Shipwreck,  published  1762,  is  another  example  of 
the  varying  use  of  the  georgic  conventions,  the  poem  being  an 
epic  with  georgic  features,  such  as  technical  instructions  of  a 
nautical  character,  moralizations,  geographical  excursions,  ref- 

^  Cp.  Kerlin,  op.  cit.,  p.  59. 


44  The  Georgic 

erences  to  famous  men,  the  contrast  of  rural  innocence  with 
city  arts. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  eighteenth  century  develop- 
ment of  the  type  is  that  originated  by  James  Thomson  in  the 
Seasons.  Thomson  omits  the  most  difficult  feature  of  the  Geor- 
gics,  the  versifying  of  practical  precepts,  but  he  makes  use  of 
the  georgic  motives  and  of  almost  all  the  georgic  conventions. 
Vergil  proposes  to  teach  the  husbandman  agricultural  arts.  He 
describes  the  occupations  of  the  farmer  thru  the  year,  refer- 
ring incidentally  to  the  seasons  as  they  are  related  to  the  farm- 
er's occupations.  Thomson  proposes  to  give  an  account  of  the 
course  of  the  seasons,  referring  incidentally  to  the  farmer's  occu- 
pations as  they  relate  to  the  seasons.  Vergil  introduces  descrip- 
tions of  nature,  chiefly  as  background  for  the  husbandman  at 
work.  Thomson  introduces  the  farmer  and  his  work  chiefly  to 
give  life  to  his  descriptions  of  nature.  Instead  of  using  the 
formal  Vergilian  statement  of  the  subject,  Thomson  begins  each 
of  his  poems  with  an  apostrophe  to  the  Season  he  is  about  to  de- 
scribe; his  mythological  references  are  rare,  and  he  can  hardly 
be  said  to  introduce  pointed  proverbial  sayings.  But  if  he  re- 
frains from  the  use  of  proverbial  sayings,  he  makes  up  by  the 
length  of  his  moralizations  and  of  his  philosophical  reflections. 
He  never  attempts  to  convey  practical  advice  directly,  altho  in 
Spring  (137  ff.),  after  his  description  of  the  manner  of  destroy- 
ing orchard  pests,  he  uses  Vergil's  personal  tone  in  exhorting 
the  swains  to  patience.  All  the  other  features  familiar  in  the 
georgics  he  uses  as  freely  as  he  uses  Vergil's  phrasing.  In 
Spring,  (142  ff.)  and  in  Autumn  (43  ff.)  he  introduces  the  cen- 
tral motive  of  the  Georgics,  the  glorification  of  labor,  but  he 
does  not  use  the  motive  as  a  central  thought.  Thruout  the 
Seasons  he  sings  the  praise  of  simple  country  life;  in  Autumn, 
almost  in  Vergil's  own  words,  he  paints  the  existence  of  the  hus- 
bandman, happy  beyond  the  dreams  of  the  great. 

Vergil  suggests  ;  Thomson  delights  to  expand.  Vergil  touches 
upon  various  philosophical  beliefs;  Thomson  expounds  eigh- 
teenth century  philosophical  ideas  line  upon  line.     In  Vergil, 


The  Belation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  45 

every  word  seems  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the  whole; 
Samuel  Johnson  is  said  to  have  pleased  an  unsuspecting  audi- 
ence by  reading  a  passage  from  Thomson  in  which  he  omitted 
every  other  line.  Nevertheless,  partly  because  of  what  he  owes 
to  Vergilj  partly  because  much  that  he  has  to  say  is  refreshing 
to  jaded  eighteenth  century  readers,  chiefly  because  in  spite  of 
his  faults  he  is  a  true  poet,  Thomson  offered  a  variation  of  the 
georgic  that  found  a  welcome  not  only  among  the  learned,  but 
also  among  readers  who  had  never  construed  a  Latin  line.  The 
influence  of  Thomson  is  seen  in  English  poems  planned  to  imi- 
tate closely  the  Vergilian  model ;  but  alongside  of  these  didactics 
there  are  found  in  English,  French,  and  Italian,  imitations  of 
the  Vergilian  model  as  Thomson  adapted  it  to  his  use.®^ 

Pascoli,  in  the  Primi  Poemetti,  like  Thomson  in  the  Seasons, 
makes  no  pretence  of  giving  his  reader  direct  practical  advice. 
But  unlike  Thomson,  Pascoli  introduces  no  learned  allusions,  no 
panegyrics,  no  geographical  excursions,  no  narrative  episode^, 
no  sorrowful  contrast  between  the  past  and  the  present.  It  is 
the  Vergilian  spirit,  rather  than  the  Vergilian  motives,  that  one 
finds  in  Pascoli.  Reading  the  Poemetti,  one  thinks  inevitably 
of  Millet ;  only,  too  often.  Millet  fills  one  with  a  sense  of  sadness. 
The  atmosphere  of  the  Poemetti,  unlike  that  in  so  much  of  Pas- 
coli, is  of  deep  unreasoning  content.  The  Poemetti  are  a  series 
of  little  pictures,  idylls  in  which  are  depicted  the  homely  reali- 
ties of  the  Italian  contadini's  daily  life.  To  his  listening  help- 
mate the  husbandman  repeats  proverbial  wisdom, 

Sai    clie,    per    il    grano, 
presto  fe  talora,  tardi  6  sempre  male. 
.  .  .  chi   con    I'acqua   semina,    raccoglie 
poi  col  paniere;   e  cuoce  fare  in  vano 
piu  die  non  fare. 


"Among  the  most  interesting  of  the  English  poems  influenced  by  the 
Thomsonian  variation  of  the  georgic  type  are  Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village, 
Cowper's  Task,  and  William  Bloomfield's  The  Farmer's  Boy.  Delille's 
Homme  des  Champs  shows  the  influence  of  Goldsmith  even  more  markedly 
than  that  of  Thomson.  N.  G.  Leonard's  Le  Tillage  Detruit,  is  a  Aveak  copy 
of  the  Deserted  Village.     Mazzoni,  op.  cit.,  p.   79,  mentions  a  nineteenth 


46  The  Georgic 

"  Some  mnte  star  "  looks  down  upon  him  as  he  plows ;  and  the 
young  daughters  of  the  house  rising  at  dawn,  perform  accus- 
tomed tasks.  Brown-haired  Viola  milks  the  cow ;  golden-haired 
Rosa,  like  Vergil's  housewife,  sings  to  the  sound  of  the  weaving 
comb  and  at  the  command  of  the  "  cara  pi  a  madre  "  helps  to 
prepare  the  simple  meal.  And  when  the  Angelus  rings,  mother 
and  daughters  carry  bread  and  wine  to  the  fields  where  the 
sowers  stand,  like  Millet's  peasants,  repeating  the  familiar 
prayer. 

With  the  loving  minuteness  of  Vergil,  Pascoli  describes  the 
contadinis  daily  tasks.  Like  Vergil  he  charms  the  homeliest 
details  into  verse^  and  more  perhaps  than  any  other  poet  since 
Vergil,  he  writes  with  intimate  understanding  of  the  husband- 
man's life.  With  exquisite  simplicity,  more  perhaps  even 
than  Vergil,  he  reveals  the  poetry  of  the  peasants'  religion,  the 
nobility  of  simple  tasks  wrought  with  contentment,  hallowed 
by  the  sacred  beauty  of  family  love. 

In  Francis  Jammes'  Georgiques  chretiennes,  there  is  still 
another  development  of  the  georgic  type  in  which  practical  pre- 
cepts are  omitted.  However,  a  number  of  the  conventional  Ver- 
gilian  features  are  illustrated,  such  for  example,  as  the  refer- 
ences to  foreign  lands,  their  products  and  customs ;  descriptions 
of  rural  festivities  and  of  rural  sports ;  the  marking  of  the  sea- 
sons by  the  constellations ;  references  to  famous  men ;  a  lament 
over  the  desertion  of  the  soil ;  and  the  use  of  narrative  episodes. 
Les  Georgiques  chretiennes  treat  of  agricultural  labors,  such  as 
harvesting,  and  sowing,  the  culture  of  the  vine;  but  the  poet 
does  not  offer  direct  instructions  as  to  the  methods  of  farming. 
Like  Pascoli's  Poemetti,  these  georgics  are  idylls  of  the  farmer's 
life ;  like  the  Poemetti,  they  present  a  series  of  scenes  in  the  life 
of  one  family. "^^^  Jammes  makes  an  occasional  mythological 
reference,  but  like  Pascoli,  he  introduces  no  pagan  religion.  In 
the  Poemetti,  one  hears  the  sound  of  the  church  bell,  the  sing- 
century  Stagioni  by  Giuseppe  Barbieri,  and  comments  upon  the  European 
vogue  of  the  Thomsonian  nature  poetry. 

™  In  tliis  respect,  both  series  of  poems  are  like  Bloomfield's  Farmer's  Boy. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  47 

ing  of  religions  songs,  the  prayer  of  the  Aiigehis ;  in  the  pages  of 
Jammes,  "  harvesting  angels  "  guard  the  land  no  longer  pro- 
tected by  the  deities  of  ancient  Rnmo.  The  French  poet  invokes 
his  angel  (chant  iii^  48  ff.),  not  the  Mnse;  he  dedicates  his 
third  song  to  the  "  Mere  de  Dien  " ;  and  he  describes  chnrch 
feasts  8uch  as  Christmas,  Rogation  Days,  and  All  Souls'.  He 
sighs  over  the  desertion  of  the  soil,  as  Vergil  and  so  many  other 
poets  have  sighed,  bnt  tlie  present-day  evils  that  he  most  deeply 
laments  are  those  brought  about  by  the  irreligion  of  France. 

In  spite  of  certain  general  resemblances  to  Pascoli's  Poemetti, 
Les  Georgiques  cliretiennes  are  very  different  from  the  Italian 
poems.  In  plan  they  are  much  nearer  to  the  Vergilian  type ;  in 
spirit  far  less  near  to  Vergil.  As  a  development  of  the  georgic 
type  they  are  of  especial  interest ;  as  poems,  they  offer  much 
that  is  worth  while,  but  they  fail  to  grip  the  heart  with  the  deep 
and  abiding  beauty  of  the  Poemetti  of  Pascoli. 

4.    Variations  of  the  Georgic  classi,fied. 

A  didactic  poem  of  the  Vergilian  type  may  illustrate  only 
the  use  of  the  plan  and  general  treatment  of  the  Georgics,  or  it 
may  illustrate  only  the  spirit  and  the  motives  of  the  Georgics, 
and  in  plan  be  quite  different  from  Vergil's  didactics.  A  poem 
may  be  a  georgic,  Vergilian  only  with  respect  to  subject  matter ; 
it  may  be  Vergilian  in  form  and  in  subject  have  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  true  georgic.  The  Vergilian  conventions  may  be 
used  to  convey  instructions  about  any  practical  art,  they  may  be 
used  to  impart  precepts  about  a  science  or  a  fine  art ;  they  may 
be  adapted  to  Christian  themes  and  allegorical  teachings ;  they 
may  be  used  for  satire  and  burlesque,  or  in  the  telling  of  a  tale. 
Georgic  themes  may  be  the  subjects  discoursed  upon  by  the 
speakers  in  an  eclogue;  thus  the  types  cross.  And  finally,  a 
poem  that  is  georgic  in  motive  or  subject  matter  comes  under 
the  broad  definition  of  the  term  pastoral. 

The  chief  variations  in  the  development  of  the  georgic  type 
fall  into  two  general  classes,  which  may  be  sub-divided  as 
follows : 


48  The  Georgic 

I,    Poems  marked  primarily  hy  the  use  of  rules  of  practice. 

a.  The  georgic  in  the  narrowest  sense  of  the  word,  a  compo- 
sition in  which  the  poet  treats  of  rules  of  practice  concerning 
the  science  of  general  husbandry,  or  of  any  special  branch  of 
husbandry  such  as  gardening,  bee-keeping  or  the  culture  of 
silkworms. 

1.  The  non-Vergilian  georgic,  written  like  Hesiod's  WorJcs 
a7id  Days,  with  no  regard  for  definite  plan  or  artistic  structure ; 
for  example,  Thomas  Tusser's  Five  Hundred  Pointes  of  Good 
Hushandrie,  John  Gardener's  Feate  of  Gardening. 

2.  The  Vergilian  georgic,  in  which  the  poet  follows  a  defi- 
nite plan  and  makes  more  or  less  use  of  conventions  peculiar  to 
the  Vergilian  type;  for  example,  Alammani's  CoUivazione  (of 
general  husbandry),  Rapin's  Hortorum  lihri  IV,  Christopher 
Smart's  Hop  Garden,  Ruccelai's  Api,  Vida's  Bombyces. 

b.  The  cynegetic,  the  halieutic,  or  the  ixeutic  "^^  (nearest  in 
type  to  the  true  georgic) ,  a  composition  in  which  the  poet  treats 
of  rules  of  practice  not  concerning  field-work  but  field-sports, 
such  as  hunting  with  hounds  (the  cynegetic),  deep  sea-fishing 
or  angling  (the  halieutic),  and  of  hawking  or  the  snaring  of 
birds  (the  ixeutic).  These  efforts  may  be  non-Vergilian  in 
form  (Dame  Juliana  Berner's  Treatise  on  Venerie),  or  they 
may  be  written  in  imitation  of  the  Georgics  (William  Somer- 
ville's  Chase).  The  Oppian  poems  are  among  the  most  inter- 
esting examples  of  the  cynegetic  and  the  halieutic;  Claude 
Gauchet's  "  Le  Moyen  de  Prendre  les  Alouettes  au  miroer  "  '^^ 
illustrates  a  sixteenth-century  variation  of  the  ixeutic.'''^ 

c.  A  composition  in  which  the  poet  treats  of  rules  of  prac- 
tice concerning  any  outdoor  occupation,  as  in  the  nautical 
georgic,  a  poem  on  the  art  of  sea-faring;  for  example,  Ber- 
nardino Baldi's  Nautica,  Joseph  Esmenard's  Navigation. 

"  The  poems  of  this  class  will  be  treated,  in  detail  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

"  See  Le  Plaisir  des  Champs,  Paris.     Edition  of  1604. 


The  Relation  of  the  Georgic  to  the  Pastoral  49 

d.  A  composition  in  which  the  poet  gives  direct  advice  con- 
cerning any  practical  art.  The  eifort  may  be  a  non-Vergilian 
bit  of  rhyme,  perhaps  on  some  prosaic  matter  of  the  housewife's 
province,  such  as  John  Gay's  Receipt  for  Stewing  Veal.  With 
notes  by  the  author  "^'^j  or  it  may  be  a  Vergilian  didactic  fol- 
lowing the  georgic  conventions,  and  emphasizing  the  necessity 
of  honest  toil  and  the  advantages  of  country  life ;  for  example, 
John  Armstrong's  Art  of  Preserving  Health. 

e.  A  composition  in  which  the  poet  follows  the  georgic  con- 
ventions, purporting  to  give  advice  concerning  any  art  or  occu- 
pation; for  example  Soame  Jenyns'  Art  of  Dancing,  Gay's 
mock-heroic  Trivia,  or  the  Art  of  Walking  the  Streets  of 
London. 

f.  An  eclogaie  in  which  the  characters  are  concerned  with 
rules  of  practice ;  as  in  Calpurnius'  Mycon,  John  Scott's  Amoe- 
hean  Eclogue,  "  Rural  Business;  or  the  Agriculturists."  '^'* 

II.    Poems  illustrating  georgic  themes  or  georgic  features,  but 
not  marked  primarily  by  the  use  of  rules  of  practice. 

a.  A  composition  that  treats  of  rural  life,  following  in  part 
georgic  ideas  and  georgic  conventions,  altho  not  dealing  pri- 
marily with  an  occupation;  as,  for  example,  Thomson's  Seasons. 

b.  A  composition  in  which  practical  precepts  are  not  used, 
altho  the  poet  treats  in  the  Vergilian  spirit  of  farm  occupations 
and  uses  to  some  extent  georgic  features;  as  in  Bloomfield's 
Farmer  s  Boy,  Pascoli's  Primi  Poemetti,  and  Jammes'  Geor- 
giques  chretiennes. 

c.  A  composition  in  which,  for  allegorical  or  philosophical 
purposes,  the  Vergilian  plan  is  imitated,  whoUy  or  in  part, 
altho  the  poet  does  not  treat  of  a  practical  occupation  and  is 
not  concerned  primarily  with  country  life ;  as  in  Thomas  Kirch- 

"  See  Chalmer's  English  Poets,  x,  495. 
'*  See  Chalmer's  English  Poets,  xvu,  469. 


50  The  Georgic 

meyer's  Agricultura  Sacra,  and  Akeuside's  Pleasures  of  the 
Imagination: 

d.  An  eclogue  in  which  the  characters  discourse  on  georgic 
themes;  for  example,  John  Whitney's  Dialogue  between  Pis- 
cator  and  Corydon,  Claude  Gauchet's  "  Michaut-Phlippot."  "^^ 

e.  A  narrative  poem  with  digressions  of  georgic  character ; 
as  in  Falconer's  Shipwreck. 


"  See  Le  Plaisir  des  Champs,  Pp.ris,  1869,  p.  86. 


VITA 

I  was  born  in  Conewago,  Pa.,  4  October,  1881.  In  1896, 
I  entered  Notre  Dame  College,  Md.,  where  I  was  graduated 
with  the  degTee  of  A.  B.  in  1900.  From  1904-1907,  I  taught 
English  and  History  in  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  a  state  institution 
at  St.  Mary's  City,  Md.  I  taught  English  in  the  family  of 
Senor  Francisco  Santa  Cruz,  Colima,  Mexico,  in  1908;  and 
English  and  History  in  St.  Mary's  Seminary  from  1910  to 
1912.  In  October,  1912,  I  entered  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity and  pursued  the  study  of  English,  History,  and  Phil- 
osophy. In  June,  1914,  I  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  at 
the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  I  was  appointed  Fellow  in 
English  for  the  year  1914-15,  and  Fellow  by  Courtesy  for  the 
year  1915-16.  My  studies  have  been  pursued  under  Pro- 
fessors Bright,  Vincent,  Magoffin,  Ballagh,  Willoughby  Love- 
joy,  Mustard,  Collitz,  Bloomfield  and  Shaw. 

This  study  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Professor 
Bright  and  I  have  continued  it  chiefly  under  his  guidance.  I 
wish  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  kindness  of  Professor 
Shaw,  who  has  aided  me  with  the  Italian  bibliography,  and  to 
Professor  Mustard,  who  has  been  unceasing  in  his  helpful  sug- 
gestions with  regard  to  the  Georgic  and  the  Pastoral.  But 
especially,  I  wish  to  thank  Professor  Bright,  whose  criticism 
has  been  invaluable  to  me  in  the  course  of  this  work;  and  of 
whom  I  say  with  gratitude,  as  do  all  who  have  studied  under 
him,  that  he  has  helped  inestimably  in  an  understanding  of  the 
ideals  of  scholarship. 

Maeie  Lobetto  Lilly. 

August  7,  1917. 


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expiration  of  loan  period. 


APS  29  1920 


r^c^' 


J   L.D 


MAY  1  e  1997 
RECEIVED 

MAY  0  7  1997 

RCULATIONOt> 


371464 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


